In this thesis, the author explores a vocal phenomenon called “vocal fry” and why this dysphonia has emerged as one of the primary means of communication for the population referred to as “Generation Y.” The first chapter defines what vocal fry is and why it is of modest value to the stage actor. The second chapter defines the physiological means by which the human body creates sound, what good sound is and how vocal fry is created. The third and fourth chapters define several generations as well as what defines Gen Y, and the communication physiologies associated with those generations. The last chapter discusses the rise of narcissism within Gen Y and how this may relate to the arrival of vocal fry as a default register for theatre students. The conclusion outlines several solutions that may alleviate the problems associated with this dysphonia.

This study focuses on the phonetics of creaky voice saliency and the perceptual sociolinguistic indexes that are evoked during creaky voice use. This study consists of two experiments: the first a listener judgment based Likert scale, the second an AXB study. The first experiment used modal and creaky voice statement-of-fact tokens to determine whether the speaker is or isn’t x characteristic (intelligent, feminine, educated, masculine, hesitant, and confident). This study found that both male and female speakers were found to be less intelligent, less educated, less feminine, more masculine, less confident, and more hesitant when using creaky voice phonation as compared to the modal register. Participants also rated male and female speakers as statistically different. During the second experiment the participants listened to continuums that went from modal register to extreme creaky voice (based on F0 levels). Participants performed an AXB task to determine ability at distinguishing levels of creaky voice along the continuum. This study found that participants were less able to correctly detect the level of creaky voice in the female speaker for the lower half of the continuum when compared to the male speaker.

Continuing from Eckert’s line of research, I aim to explore the social meaning of common features loaded with gendered ideology: uptalk, creaky voice, and tag questions to name a few (Eckert 2008). Some indexical properties of these features have been alluded to in a study by Ikuko Patricia Yuasa, who found in a match-guise test that many female users of creaky voice are perceived as “educated, urban-oriented and upwardly mobile” (2010). Yet these findings are divorced from the “interactional and stylistic ends” to which girls used these marked features that Eckert and McLemore identify, when in fact they should be in direct conversation. In the process, I aim to make speech used by mainstream populations a conscious object of study, critically examining whether the features index a specific and exclusive construction of femininity that represents any sort of prestige in the specific setting of a women’s college. This entails studying not only who adopts these features and to what means, but who do not and what alternative patterns of speech they pursue instead. Thus, this project aims to elucidate the complicated choices that young women make in speech and the social meanings they convey in those choices.

The present study aimed at examining both vocal and laryngeal changes caused by the vocal fry in five female subjects without vocal complaints, signs nor symptoms, with no report of previous voice therapy, and free of inflammatory or allergic processes at the moment of assessment. Initially, a digital recording of sustained emission of /a/ vowel and a recording of a videostroboscopic examination of larynx were performed. Soon after this procedure, the subjects did the vocal fry, in three series of 15 repetitions, with a 30-second interval of passive rest between the series, when the subjects should remain in absolute silence. Immediately after that, both the laryngeal examination and the recording of the vocal emission with the same phonatory task were carried out again. Both laryngeal and vocal data found prior to and after the technique were submitted to acoustic, perceptive-auditive, and videostroboscopic analyses. The perceptive-auditive analysis as well as the videostroboscopic one were performed by six judges (three speech and language pathologists especialized in voice, and three otorhinolaryngologist, respectively). The acoustic analysis was generated by the Multi Speech program of Kay Elemetrics. The analysis of results showed the following effects of the vocal fry: improved vibration of the mucosa of the vocal folds, particularly as to width and symmetry of vibration; improved or sustained voice type and pitch; improved or sustained parameters related to jitter and shimmer as well as the index that suggests glottic noise, suggesting decreased noise; improved index of mild phonation, suggesting greater balance of the degree of coaptation strength and completion of vocal folds closure; sustained or worsened vocal quality and resonance focus, with laryngopharyngeal prevalence; decreased fundamental frequency; and increased frequency variation and width, suggesting phonatory unstableness. Thus, in this study, it was concluded that the vocal fry had a positive effect on the vibration of the mucosa of the vocal folds andon the voice noise as well, and a negative effect on the voice resonance and stability. / O presente estudo teve como objetivo verificar as mudanças vocais e laríngeas ocasionadas pelo som basal em cinco indivíduos adultos do sexo feminino sem queixas, sinais e sintomas vocais e laríngeos, sem relato de terapia vocal anterior e livres de quadro inflamatório ou alérgico no momento da avaliação. Inicialmente, realizou-se gravação digital da emissão sustentada da vogal /a/ e gravação do exame videolaringoestroboscópico da laringe. Imediatamente após, os sujeitos realizaram a técnica do som basal durante três séries de 15 repetições. Em seguida, realizaram-se novamente o exame laríngeo e a gravação da emissão vocal com a mesma tarefa fonatória. Os dados laríngeos e vocais pré e pós-realização da técnica foram submetidos às análises acústica, perceptivo-auditiva e videolaringoestroboscópica, sendo as duas últimas realizadas por seis juízes (três fonoaudiólogas especialistas em voz e três otorrinolaringologistas, respectivamente). A análise acústica foi gerada pelo programa Multi Speech, da Kay Elemetrics. A análise dos resultados evidenciou que o som basal propiciou: melhora da vibração da mucosa das pregas vocais, mais especificamente quanto à amplitude e simetria de vibração; melhora ou manutenção do tipo de voz e do pitch; melhora ou manutenção dos parâmetros relacionados ao jitter e shimmer (PPQ e APQ) e do índice que sugere ruído glótico (NHR), sugerindo diminuição do ruído; melhora do índice de fonação suave (SPI), sugerindo maior equilíbrio do grau de força de coaptação e da completude de fechamento das pregas vocais; manutenção ou piora da qualidade vocal e do foco ressonantal, com predomínio laringofaríngeo;diminuição da freqüência fundamental; e aumento da variação da freqüência (vf0) e amplitude (vAm), sugerindo instabilidade fonatória. Dessa forma, concluiu-se que, neste estudo, o som basal promoveu um efeito positivo sobre a vibração da mucosa das pregas vocais e sobre o ruído na voz, e um efeito negativo sobre a ressonância e a estabilidade da voz.

This study aimed at describing the vocal acoustic characteristics and analyzing the velopharyngeal closing during vocal fry, comparing it with the emission in modal register of male adult patients with post-foramen cleft, surgically repaired. Material and Methods: It was carried out through Case Studies with four adult men, volunteers, with post-foramen cleft surgically repaired. The voice sample and the images of the velopharyngeal sphincter (VPS) were collected through nasopharyngoscopy, during the emission of the vowel /a/ in modal and vocal fry register. Then, the images of VPS in the two registers were assessed by otorhinolaryngology judges in terms of kind of closure and level of movement of structures involved in the closing. The voice of each participant, in vocal fry and modal register, were acoustically analyzed based on Multi Dimensional Voice Program (analysis of glottic source) and Real-Time Spectrogram (spectrographic analysis), both by Kay Elemetrics Corp., using speech-language pathologists as judges to assess the data from the spectrographs. Results: Through the spectrographic analysis of vocal fry we found: decrease of intensity, of definition and of band spectrography in some formants, decrease of the intensity of the entire spectrum, and a slight increase of noise in high frequencies and increase of the damping effect. According to the analysis of the glottic source, in the vocal fry, there were: fundamental frequency in the modal voice register and it was higher if compared to the emission in the modal register; a significant increase of the measures that show the variation of frequency and amplitude; a significant increase in most of the jitter and shimmer measures; increase in noise measure, voice break, unvoiced segment and vocal tremor; and soft phonation index (SPI) significantly decreased. Through the analysis of the images and the analysis of the VPS it was found that if compared to the modal register, the emission in fry kept the movement of the lateral pharyngeal walls, balanced the movement of the posterior pharyngeal wall, reduced slightly the movement of the velum palatinum, and emphasized the Passavant s ridge. Conclusions: Based on the findings of the acoustic analysis, it was showed the high instability and the noise in the fry emission, as well as its weak intensity and diminished transglottic air flow. Besides this, the analysis of the images and of VPS showed that the kind of velopharyngeal closure did not change among most of the participants if compared the modal register and the vocal fry, presenting changes in the level of movement of the structures involved. / Esta pesquisa teve como objetivos descrever as características acústicas da voz e analisar o fechamento velofaríngeo, durante a realização do som basal, comparando-o com a emissão em registro modal, de pacientes adultos masculinos, portadores de fissura palatina pós-forame reparada cirurgicamente. Materiais e Métodos: Foi realizada através de Estudo de Casos com quatro homens adultos, voluntários, portadores de fissura palatina pós-forame, reparada cirurgicamente. A coleta da voz e a obtenção das imagens do esfíncter velofaríngeo (EVF), através de nasofaringoscopia, foram realizadas durante a emissão da vogal /a/ em registro modal e basal. Posteriormente, as imagens do EVF, nos dois registros, foram julgadas por juízes otorrinolaringologistas quanto ao tipo de fechamento realizado e quanto ao grau de movimentação das estruturas envolvidas no fechamento. As vozes de cada sujeito, em registro basal e em modal, foram analisadas acusticamente através dos programas Multi Dimensional Voice Program (análise da fonte glótica) e Real-Time Spectrogram (análise espectrográfica), ambos da Kay Elemetrics Corp., utilizando-se juízas fonoaudiólogas para a avaliação dos dados das espectrografias. Resultados: Através da análise espectrográfica do basal encontrou-se como resultados: decréscimo de intensidade, de definição e de largura de banda de alguns formantes, da intensidade de todo o espectro, e discreto aumento do ruído nas altas freqüências e do efeito damping. Pela análise da fonte glótica, no basal, encontrou-se: frequência fundamental dentro da faixa do registro modal de fala e aumentada quando comparada à emissão para comparação em registro modal; grande aumento das medidas que evidenciam variação de freqüências e de amplitude; maioria das medidas de jitter e de shimmer significativamente aumentadas; medidas de ruído, de quebras de voz, de segmentos não sonorizados e de tremor aumentadas; e índice de fonação suave (SPI) significativamente diminuído. Por meio da análise das imagens do EVF, obteve-se como resultados que, quando comparada com o registro modal, a emissão em registro basal manteve o movimento das paredes laterais da faringe, estabilizou o movimento da parede posterior da faringe, diminuiu discretamente o movimento do véu palatino, e evidenciou a Prega de Passavant. Conclusões: Pôde-se evidenciar, através dos resultados da análise acústica, a alta instabilidade e presença de ruído da emissão em registro basal, assim como sua fraca intensidade e diminuído fluxo aéreo transglótico. Concluiu-se, ainda, através da análise das imagens do EVF, que o tipo de fechamento velofaríngeo se manteve na maioria dos sujeitos, quando comparado o registro modal com o registro basal, havendo modificações do grau de movimentação das estruturas envolvidas.

No description available.

1 Abstract The present thesis is concerned with the study of creaky voice and its communicative functions in audio-visual presentation of a brand. This study analyzes nineteen videos that were part of the Sign On campaign produced by Greenpeace in 2009. The main purpose of this thesis is to measure the level of creaky voice in communicative functions. The communicative functions presented in this study are based on the model of Roman Jakobson (1960) and some new functions are proposed as addition to the model. One of the predictions of this thesis is that functions that are emotionally loaded will be comparatively more creaky and this prediction is partially met. Secondly, it was expected to see the same order of the communicative functions based on their level of creakiness among different groups of speakers. This expectation was not met and the possible reasons for the findings are discussed. This thesis uses only acoustic measurements for the comparison of the communicative functions based on their levels of creaky voice. Finally, this thesis discusses the possibilities and current limitations of acoustic methods used for detection of creaky phonation. Keywords: creaky voice, vocal fry, laryngealization, communicative functions, F0, HNR, H1-H2, antimode

No description available.