A pilot investigation of twang quality using magnetic resonance imaging

Perta, Karen; Bae, Youkyung; Obert, Kerrie

doi:10.1080/14015439.2020.1757147

Cited by 8 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 26 publications

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“…Darkness is associated acoustically with lowered formant frequencies ( Sundberg, 1970 ; Sundberg, 1973 ) and may stem from specific vocal tract shaping, including a lowered larynx and widening of the pharynx ( Bloothooft and Plomp, 1986 ; Hertegård, 1990 ). Evidence further suggests that vocal tract shaping counter to that associated with darkness (i.e., larynx raising, pharynx widening) results in bright tone quality commonly described as “twang” ( Titze et al , 2003 ; Perta et al , 2020 ), which is possibly also accompanied by a wider lip opening and a constricted oral cavity ( Story et al , 2001 ). Darkness is considered complementary, and not opposed, to brightness (despite terminological implication), as one of the two components of chiarascuro.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dark tone quality and vocal tract shaping in soprano song production: Insights from real-time MRI

Lynn

Narayanan

Lammert

2021

JASA Express Letters

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Tone quality termed “dark” is an aesthetically important property of Western classical voice performance and has been associated with lowered formant frequencies, lowered larynx, and widened pharynx. The present study uses real-time magnetic resonance imaging with synchronous audio recordings to investigate dark tone quality in four professionally trained sopranos with enhanced ecological validity and a relatively complete view of the vocal tract. Findings differ from traditional accounts, indicating that labial narrowing may be the primary driver of dark tone quality across performers, while many other aspects of vocal tract shaping are shown to differ significantly in a performer-specific way.

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