Phonation
Phonation
Phonation
The wide range of sounds that the human voice can create occurs through several processes
along the respiratory tract. This begins with the creation of air flow from the lungs. Phonation is
the result of sound production from vibrations at the vocal folds secondary to change in air
pressure. Articulation involves ‘shaping’ this sound through structures in the phonatory tract
such as the lips, teeth and tongue to produce speech.
The main cartilages involved in phonation are the singular thyroid and cricoid cartilages and a
pair of arytenoid cartilages. The thyroid cartilage is a shield-like structure which rests on top of
the ring-shaped cricoid cartilage. The arytenoid cartilage is a pyramidal structure with its base
resting on the cricoid cartilage. The muscular process is directed posterolaterally and is the
attachment point for many of the intrinsic laryngeal muscles which rotate the cricoarytenoid
joint. The vocal process is directed anteriorly towards the thyroid cartilage and is the attachment
of the vocal ligament. The true vocal folds are formed by the thyroarytenoid muscle covered by
multiple layers of lamina propria and squamous epithelium. The vocal ligament is formed by the
intermediate and deep layers of the lamina propria.
The intrinsic laryngeal muscles abduct and adduct the vocal folds, as well as affect their length
and tension. Abduction of the folds occur when the arytenoid cartilages rotate outwards and
move apart, while adduction occurs when they rotate inwards and move medially. The only
abductor is the posterior cricoarytenoid muscle. The main adductors are the thyroarytenoid,
lateral cricoarytenoid and interarytenoid muscles The medial portion of the thyroarytenoid
muscle which attaches to the vocal process of the arytenoid is referred to as the vocalis muscle.
The vocalis muscle shortens the length and thickens the vocal folds to decrease pitch. Meanwhile
the cricothyroid muscle pivots the thyroid cartilage down onto the cricoid cartilage, elongating,
tightening and thinning the vocal fold, thereby raising pitch.
The basic features of the laryngeal adjustments to the different phonatory settings can be
summarized as proposed by Hirose (1996:127):
The tension and adjustment forces acting on the vocal folds are depicted in Fig.5.
The active longitudinal tension of the vocal folds is achieved through the contraction of the
vocalis muscle, whereas the passive longitudinal tension is achieved through contraction of the
cricothyroid muscle. The medial tension (compression) is obtained by contracting the lateral
thyroarytenoid muscles. The adductive tension is caused by contraction of the interarytenoid
muscles and the lateral cricoarytenoid muscles. Each phonatory class has a different specification
in terms of these physiological parameters. Below, the influences of the tensions and adjustments
of the vocal folds on the phonation process and on voice quality will be described briefly(after
Eckert & Laver, 1994).
Voicelessness ( nil phonation ) is realized either by blocking the airflow from the lungs with
fully adducted vocal folds or with the vocal folds widely abducted and wide opening of the
glottis, when the airflow is laminar. In both cases no sound is generated and no acoustic energy
is injected into the vocal tract.
Voicelessness at higher flow speeds causes turbulence even with widely abducted vocal folds.
This type of phonation is called breath. An obvious example is the pronunciation of [h] at the
beginning of a word like German [h a n t] where the volume velocity flow can reach about 1000
cc/s (cubic centimetres per second).
Whisper sound quality is produced through turbulences generated by the friction of the air in
and above the larynx with vocal folds not vibrating.
Apart from the rather seldom linguistic uses, whisper is widely used paralinguistically to signal
secrecy and confidentiality.
Quite different and much more varied types of phonation are involved in the vibration of the
vocal folds. The aerodynamic aspects of vocal fold movements have been already addressed
above and thus description of the effects of muscular settings on vocal fold movements is to
follow now.
The neutral mode of phonation is modal voiced phonation . In the normal case the vibration of
the vocal folds is periodic with full closing of glottis, so no audible friction noises are produced
when air flows through the glottis. All muscular adjustments are on a moderate level and the
frequency of vibration, as well as loudness are in the lower to mid part of the range normally
used in conversation. The modal phonation of a male speaker occcurs at an average of 120 Hz,
while for a female speaker it is approx. 220 Hz. For voiced sounds the glottis is closed or nearly
closed, whereas for voiceless sounds it is wide open, actually the distance between the folds
amount to only a fraction of a milimeter. The degree of opening and its timing is relative to the
articulatory gestures and depends on the phonetic environment of a generated sound. The
average flow rate is between 100 and 350 cc/s.
One of the characteristics of modal phonation is the build-up of the contact between the vocal
folds. During the open phase of vibration the glottis has a triangular form with wider opening at
the arytenoids. As the vocal folds close, they do not do so in all places at the same time, but with
a vertical phase difference (in accordance with the body-cover model of vocal fold vibrations),
with the lower parts of the edges closing and opening before the upper edges 6. For this reason the
contact area is triangular during the opening and closing of the vocal folds, and, consequently,
the glottis takes on the shape of a tetrahedron, as depicted in Fig.7.
The resulting low tension and heavy vibrating mass are responsible for the slower and irregular
vibration. Both subglottal pressure also the glottal airflow are lowered compared to modal
phonation. Creak is produced at a flow rate of 12-20 cc/s while pulses are produced in a
frequency range from 25 to 50 Hz.
Breathy voice is normally regarded as a compound phonation type (voiceless+modal), but I have
decided to view it as an independent phonation type because of diverse adjustments of laryngeal
structures in comparison to other phonation modes. Muscular tension is low, with minimal
adductive tension, weak medial compression and medium longitudinal tension of the vocal
folds (Fig. 9).
Vocal fold vibration is inefficient and, because of the incomplete closure of the glottis, a constant
glottal leakage occurs which causes the production of audible friction noise. Air flows through
the vocal folds at a high rate. The vibrations' frequency of is just below the value typical of the
modal voice.
Breathy voice differs from voiced whisper because of the weaker medial compression and the
smaller degree of voicing effort. However, as pointed out by Laver (1980), there is no clear
perceptual boundary between whispery and breathy voice.
Harsh voice (Fig.10) is due to the very strong tension of the vocal folds (especially medial
compression and adductive tension), which results in an excessive approximation of the vocal
folds. When the whole larynx is subjected to this extremely high tension, the upper larynx
becomes highly constricted with the ventricular folds pressing on the upper surfaces of the vocal
folds, making their vibration ineffective.
Harsh phonation is therefore irregular in both cycle duration and amplitude. The characteristic
fundamental frequency is above 100 Hz.
The frequency of vibrations in falsetto phonation is noticeably higher than in modal voice. The
vocal folds are stretched longitudinally, thus becoming relatively thin. Consequently, the
vibrating mass is smaller and the generated tone higher (eq.(1)). The adduction of the folds is
high and the medial compression is also strong (Fig.11).
The glottis often remains slightly open, resulting in low subglottal pressure (due to constant
glottal leakage) and the generation of the audible friction noise component.
Not all phonation types are mutually exclusive, on the contrary, some of them work together to
modify phonation. Only modal and falsetto are incompatible because they use the structure of the
larynx differently. The possible combinations of phonation types are given in Tab. 2. The
compound phonation types are used solely on the para- and extralinguistic layers of
communication.
7. the term of tense voice is also used to describe a higher degree of tension in the entire vocal
tract (Ní Chasaide & Gobl, 1997:451)