Acoustic and perceptual effects of vocal training in amateur male singing

This paper reports our investigation of the acoustic effects of vocal training for amateur singers and of the contribution of those effects to perceived vocal quality. Recording singing voices before and after vocal training and then analyzing changes in acoustic parameters with a focus on features unique to singing voices, we found that two different F0 fluctuations (vibrato and overshoot) and singing formant were improved by the training. The results of psychoacoustic experiments showed that perceived voice quality was influenced more by the changes of F0 characteristics than by the changes of spectral characteristics and that acoustic features unique to singing voices contribute to perceived voice quality in the following order: vibrato, singing formant, overshoot, and preparation.