Several reports exists relating to the frequency fundamental of male and female speech. Though they not all agree, there is a clear trend that the fundamental frequency of men's voices is lower than females. One example: "The voiced speech of a typical adult male will have a fundamental frequency from 85 to 155 Hz, and that of a typical adult female from 165 to 255 Hz."[1]
QUESTION: Is it meaningful to study speech below these frequencies and why?
I am studying speech directivity and for some reason in the literature the male and female voice seems to repeatedly compared at 125 Hz, near the male fundamental. This seems nonsensical to me but maybe there is a good reason for this? I have recorded a fair bit of female speech and I see very little sound energy in this frequency band.
[1] Baken, R. J. (2000). Clinical Measurement of Speech and Voice, 2nd Edition. London: Taylor and Francis Ltd. (pp. 177), ISBN 1-5659-3869-0. That in turn cites Fitch, J.L. and Holbrook, A. (1970). Modal Fundamental Frequency of Young Adults in Archives of Otolaryngology, 92, 379-382, Table 2 (p. 381).
I find your research interesting. Now bear in mind that one of the objectives of conducting researches is to prove or support existing theories as well as yield results which are dissimilar to the available published findings and resources. I believe you would want to choose either of these two options.
Hi Raimundo,
That does indeed seem nonsensical. What's the precise definition of comparing to a frequency (like 125Hz) here?
One thought that comes to mind is whether this maybe is a case of conducting the analysis with a wide enough frequency range so as not to miss anything? We humans are after all surprisingly variable at times.
Cheers,
Pertti
It's right. However, there are rare atypical cases when the pitch frequency of a man exceeds 155 Hz, and that of a woman is less than 165 Hz. I suppose you are familiar with these cases from the practice of communicating with people :)
Thus, the question of the frequency of the main tone is statistical in nature.
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