Associations Between Speaking Fundamental Frequency, Vowel Formant Frequencies, and Listener Perceptions of Speaker Gender and Vocal Femininity-Masculinity

Purpose: The aim of the study was to examine associations between speaking fundamental frequency ([f.sub.os]), vowel formant frequencies (F), listener perceptions of speaker gender, and vocal femininity-masculinity. Method: An exploratory study was undertaken to examine associations between [f.sub.os], [F.sub.1]-[F.sub.3], listener perceptions of speaker gender (nominal scale), and vocal femininity-masculinity (visual analog scale). For 379 speakers of Australian English aged 18-60 years, [f.sub.os] mode and [F.sub.1]-[F.sub.3] (12 monophthongs; total of 36 Fs) were analyzed on a standard reading passage. Seventeen listeners rated speaker gender and vocal femininity-masculinity on randomized audio recordings of these speakers. Results: Model building using principal component analysis suggested the 36 Fs could be succinctly reduced to seven principal components (PCs). Generalized structural equation modeling (with the seven PCs of F and [f.sub.os] as predictors) suggested that only [F.sub.2] and [f.sub.os] predicted listener perceptions of speaker gender (male, female, unable to decide). However, listener perceptions of vocal femininity-masculinity behaved differently and were predicted by [F.sub.1], [F.sub.3], and the contrast between monophthongs at the extremities of the [F.sub.1] acoustic vowel space, in addition to [F.sub.2] and [f.sub.os]. Furthermore, listeners' perceptions of speaker gender also influenced ratings of vocal femininity-masculinity substantially. Conclusion: Adjusted odds ratios highlighted the substantially larger contribution of F to listener perceptions of speaker gender and vocal femininity-masculinity relative to [f.sub.os] than has previously been reported.
Gender is one of the first pieces of social information accessible from a speaker's voice (Kreiman & Sidtis, 2011; Schweinberger et al., 2014). Findings of studies examining event-related potentials of [...]