Vowel Distinction at High Frequencies

1. Vowel Distinction at High Frequencies • Hermann Ingi Ragnarsson

2. The Purpose To find out if vowels move closer to each other on a vowel space chart when they are sung at higher frequencies.

3. The Method • I recorded the singing of the Icelandic vowels a, e, í, o, ú at 5 different frequencies. • I used a piano for reference. Playing five different keys. After each key was pressed the singer would sing the vowels.

4. The Piano Keys that Were Used • Middle-C, E, G, C(one octave higher) and E (one octave higher)

5. Middle C - Spectrogram

6. Middle C - Formants

7. E - Spectrogram

8. E - Formants

9. G - Spectrogram

10. G - Formants

11. C (higher) - Spectrogram

12. C (higher) - Formants

13. E (higher) - Spectrogram

14. E (Higher) - Formants

15. Vowel Space Charts

16. Middle C

17. E

18. G

19. C (Higher)

20. E (Higher)

21. Conclusion Despite showing instances of unpredictable ‘behavior’ the vowels generally move closer to each other on the vowel space chart with increasing frequencies.