The Singing Formant

The extensive research of Johan Sundberg into the vocal production of opera singers led him to the concept of the "singing format", an additional vocal resonance associated with singing which is different from the spoken sound. This singing formant also aids the opera singer by standing out above the typical orchestral accompaniment.

Sundberg associates the singing formant with lowering the larynx while singing.

You can click on either graphic at right for further details.

Equal tempered frequency list
Index

Voice concepts

Musical instruments

Reference
Sundberg
Scientific American, March 77
 
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Sung and Spoken Sounds

The plot (from Sundberg) shows the resonances of an electronic resonator built to mimic the human vocal tract. To illustrate the difference between spoken and sung vowel sounds, Sundberg inserted an extra formant between the third and fourth formants.
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Voice concepts

Musical instruments

Reference
Sundberg
Scientific American, March 77
 
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Voice and Accompaniment

Sundberg's measurments showed that the time averaged energy distribution with frequency was very similar for speech and orchestral music, but that the singing voice exhibited a peak in the range 2000-3000 Hz. This helps the opera singer to be heard above the orchestral ammompaniment. Sundberg called this peak a singing formant.

Index

Voice concepts

Musical instruments

Reference
Sundberg
Scientific American, March 77
 
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Distinguishing sounds by formant frequencies

The first two formant frequencies can be considered as a kind of two dimensional space for mapping the distinguishability of two sounds. The vowel sounds which are far apart on this diagram are easy to distinguish, and those close together more difficult to distinguish.

How does the ear make the distinction?
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Voice concepts

Musical instruments
 
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