H6-02.HTML
H6-02: VOCAL FORMANTS

PURPOSE: To demonstrate the formant structure of different vocal sounds.

DESCRIPTION: The amplified microphone signal is input into the PC 486 based sound blaster card and a Spectra Plus real time spectrum analyzer which displays the result as an audio spectrogram or a spectral surface. Various data displays are available, including a really neat one where the intensity is indicated by the colors of the spectrum. Differences in the formant structure are easily observed for various vowel sounds such as "ah," "oo," and "ee." It can be easily shown that the "ee" formant (about 2500 Hz) does not change as the frequency of the sung note is changed by over one octave (for a male voice, say, from about 100 Hz to over 250 Hz).

SUGGESTIONS:

REFERENCES: (PIRA unavailable.) See Demonstration Reference File for manual and other information.

EQUIPMENT: PC 486 with sound blaster card and real time audio spectrograph card.

SETUP TIME: 5 min.


Go back to Lecture-Demonstration Home Page.