The role of f 0 and formant frequencies in distinguishing the voices of men and women

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Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to determine the contributions of fundamental frequency (f 0) and formants in cuing the distinction between men’s and women’s voices. A source-filter synthesizer was used to create four versions of 25 sentences spoken by men: (1) unmodified synthesis, (2) f 0 only shifted up toward values typical of women, (3) formants only shifted up toward values typical of women, and (4) both f 0 and formants shifted up. Identical methods were used to generate four corresponding versions of 25 sentences spoken by women, but with downward shifts. Listening tests showed that (1) shifting both f 0 and formants was usually effective (∼82%) in changing the perceived sex of the utterance, and (2) shifting either f 0 or formants alone was usually ineffective in changing the perceived sex. Both f 0 and formants are apparently needed to specify speaker sex, though even together these cues are not entirely effective. Results also suggested that f 0 is somewhat more important than formants. A second experiment used the same methods, but isolated /hVd/ syllables were used as test signals. Results were broadly similar, with the important exception that, on average, the syllables were more likely to shift perceived talker sex with shifts in f 0 and/or formants.

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