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Objectives The present study aimed to investigate whether there are differences between Arabic-speaking and Finnish-speaking listeners in the impressions of a speaker's personality as evoked by various intentional voice qualities. Study design This is an experimental study. Methods Samples (N = 55) were gathered from native Finnish-speaking males (N = 4) and females (N = 5), who read a text passage of 43 words using eight different voice qualities: (1) habitual speaking voice, speaking with (2) a forward or (3) backward placement of the tongue, or a (4) breathy, (5) tense, (6) creaky, (7) nasalized, or (8) denasalized voice. Native Arabic-speaking participants (34 males, 12 females; N = 46) were asked to evaluate the speech samples on a seven-point polarized scale by choosing 1–5 from a total of 18 contrasting pairs of personality traits. The listening tests were presented via Windows Media Player and a Genelec Biamp loudspeaker. Traits that had evaluations of 30% or more were selected for the final analysis. The results were compared to the results of native Finnish-speaking listeners (12 males, 38 females; N = 50). Statistical analyses were carried out using IBM SPSS Statistics 25. Results On the whole, both listener groups perceived the speakers’ voice qualities similarly, although the Finnish-speaking listeners linked many voice qualities, especially nasal and denasal voices, with unpleasant and other negative personality traits. Moreover, somewhat opposing evaluations were given by the two language groups for voices with forward and backward placements of the tongue, and breathy and tense voices. In many cases, the evaluations by the Arabic-speaking listeners were more scattered. The speakers’ sex also seemed to affect perceptions of personality. Conclusions There seem to be similar stereotypical tendencies to relate certain voice qualities with certain personality traits, which is explainable by how the voice types are produced and used to express emotions. Some opposing trends found between the two language groups may be related to language and cultural differences. A further study with larger listener groups and including also samples from Arabic language speakers is needed to confirm the results of the present study.

Summary Objectives Language shift from native (L1) to foreign language (L2) may affect speaker's voice production and induce vocal fatigue. This study investigates the effects of language shift on voice source and perceptual voice quality. Study Design This is a comparative experimental study. Subjects and Methods Twenty-four subjects were recorded in L1 and L2. Twelve of the subjects were native Finnish speakers and 12 were native English speakers, and the foreign languages were English and Finnish. Two groups were created based on reports of fatigability. Group 1 had the subjects who did not report more vocal fatigue in L2 than in L1, and in group 2 those who reported more vocal fatigue in L2 than in L1. Acoustic analyses by inverse filtering were conducted in L1 and L2. Also, the subjects' voices were perceptually evaluated in both languages. Results Results show that language shift from L1 to L2 increased perceived pressedness of voice. Acoustic analyses correlated with the perceptual evaluations. Also, the subjects who reported more vocal loading had poorer voice quality, more strenuous voice production, more pressed phonation, and a higher pitch. Conclusions Voice production was less optimal in L2 than in L1. Speech training given in L2 could be beneficial for people who need to use L2 extensively.

Aims: This study investigated whether speaking a foreign language affects the subjective notions of vocal fatigue, and whether acoustic measurements reveal a higher vocal loading. Methods: The speech samples of 20 native Finnish-speaking and 23 native English-speaking subjects were recorded in Finnish and in English. From the speech samples, fundamental frequency, equivalent sound level, total duration of voiced speech, speech rate, alpha ratio and L1-L0 level difference were analyzed. Vocal doses were calculated. Results: According to subjective notions, the voice gets tired more quickly when speaking a foreign language. The mean fundamental frequency increased but the speech rate and total duration of voiced speech decreased significantly when speaking a foreign language. Thus, the vocal doses decreased. Conclusions: The subjective sensations of increased vocal fatigue may be due to increased mental stress rather than to higher vocal loading. However, a trend that speaking a foreign language may involve more loading was found in L1-L0 level difference and in the doses normalized to time dose. Longer speech samples should be studied. Voice quality-based indicators of vocal loading are worth testing in addition to the measures based on the amount of voicing in speech.

This study investigated whether speaking a foreign language affects the fundamental frequency (F0) of speech in 16 native Finnish and 14 native English subjects reading a text in Finnish and in English. The speech samples were analyzed for the mean and range of F0. Speaking a foreign language caused a change in F0 for the Finnish subjects, while the result was not as unambiguous for the English subjects. The change in F0 may be a result of adaptation to a certain pitch level in the foreign environment. Experience in using the foreign language did not show significant correlation to the change in F0, which suggests either individual differences in sensitivity to adaptation or difficulty in quantifying the amount of experience.

Twenty-four females (mean age 38 years) with varying amounts of vocal training read aloud from a book for 45 min (70 dB at 40 cm distance). Symptoms of the throat and voice were ascertained with a questionnaire before, during and after the test. Fundamental frequency (F₀) and sound pressure level (SPL) were measured. The alpha ratio describing the spectrum slope was calculated: SPL in the range 1–5 kHz minus SPL in the range 50 Hz–1 kHz. All measurements were made for the 1st, 5th, 15th, 30th and the 45th min of loading and for text reading before and after it. F₀, SPL and alpha values rose during the test, which may indicate adaptation to loading. During the first 5 min, however, these parameters showed a decreasing tendency, possibly reflecting warm-up. Subjects with more vocal training had a lower F₀ in the loading test. SPL seemed to reflect variation of symptoms during loading. Changes in acoustic parameters did not distinguish between subjects with most and fewest symptoms of fatigue in this test.