Individual variations in glottal characteristics of female speakers

We address the measurement of glottal characteristics of female speakers and how these characteristics contribute to voice quality or individuality. We have developed acoustic measurements of the voicing source that are made directly on the speech waveform or spectrum. These measures are based on theoretical models of speech production. Based on these measurements it is possible to make some inferences about the glottal configuration during phonation and the nature of the glottal pulse. Previous work has relied mainly on physiological methods such as inverse filtering of vocal tract airflow or observations of vocal fold vibration via endoscopy or fiberscopy. Our measures are non-invasive and can be easily extracted automatically. By comparing these acoustic measures to physiological and perceptual data, we show that they are valid