Acoustic features of radio performers’ voices

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The acoustic features of supranormal (better-than-normal) vocal performers e.g. actors and singers are well-documented (e.g. Barrichelo et al, 2001; Bele, 2006). Measures such as alpha ratio, speaker’s/singer’s formant and fundamental frequency have been useful in quantifying these voices and differentiating them from non-performing controls. Radio professionals are a subgroup of supranormal vocal performers. This pilot study will explore the acoustic differences between radio performers and non-performing controls. METHOD: Male radio performers (n=15, mean age=36yrs including announcers, voice-over artists and newsreaders) and matched male controls with no history of voice disorder or professional vocal performance (n=15, mean age=36yrs) participated as pilot groups. Participants were recorded reading a standard passage in two conditions: 1) as if in conversation outside the sound booth (habitual) and 2) as if presenting on the radio (performance). Cepstral Peak Prominence (CPP) (Hillenbrand & Houde, 1996) and Alpha Ratio (AR) (Sundberg & Nordenberg, 2006) were calculated for each voice sample. Factorial group x condition ANOVAS were conducted for CPP and AR. RESULTS: There were no significant interactions between group and condition for CPP or AR and no main group effects for both measures. There was a main effect for condition (p=0.021, p=0.002) seen for both measures across both groups. DISCUSSION: There were no differences between voices of radio performers and controls for CPP and AR. Differences between conditions may be due to a practice effect. These results contrast with our preliminary auditory-perceptual analysis and other previous studies (Medrado et al, 2005) where voices of radio performers were easily identified from controls. Continued data collection/analysis will examine specific characteristics of radio performer sub-types e.g. voice-over artists vs newsreaders as well as measures of Long Term Average Spectrum, fundamental frequency and detailed perceptual analysis.