Perceptual impressions and acoustical characteristics of simulated “feminine” voices

This study aims to clarify characteristics of voice quality that give an impression of femininity. With regard to female voices and gender variation of voices, previous research has studied their acoustical features. Klatt & Klatt (1990) examined male and female voices acoustically and showed that female voices were more breathy than male voices. In order to reveal typical characteristics of female voices, this study investigated perceptual impressions and acoustic features of simulated female voices. Analyzes data were utterances produced by twelve speakers (6 females and 6males, aged 20-22). The speakers were asked to simulate a female “feminine” voice. Firstly, we carried out an impression rating experiment on the obtained data. Twenty-two participants were asked to evaluate the utterances according to various rating scales. The scales included “clear,” “thin,” “feminine” and so on (Kido and Kasuya, 1999; 2001). Analysis showed that a significant correlation with “feminine” was found in “high,” “clear,” “thin.” Second, /a/ vowels extracted from the utterances were analyzed acoustically. Acoustic parameters were F0, the amplitude gap between H1-H2, and CPP. The relation between these acoustic parameters and the impression ratings of voice quality will be discussed.