Growl Voice in Ethnic and Pop Styles

Ken-Ichi Sakakibara (1 2), Leonardo Fuks (3), Hiroshi Imagawa(4), Niro Tayama(5)

1NTTCommunication Science Laboratories, NTT Corporation, Japan

2Department of Otolaryngology, The University of Tokyo, Japan School of Music,

3Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

4Department of Speech Physiology, The University of Tokyo, Japan

5International Medical Center of Japan, Japan

Abstract

Among the so-called extended vocal techniques, vocal growl is a rather common effect in some ethnic (e.g. the Xhosa people in South Africa) and pop styles (e.g. Jazz, Louis Armstrong-type) of music. Growl usually consists of simultaneous vibrations of the vocal folds and supraglottal structures of the larynx, either in harmonic or subharmonic co-oscillation.

This paper examines growl mechanism using videofluoroscopy and high-speed imaging, and its acousitcal characteristics by spectral analysis and model simulation. In growl, the larynx position is usually high and aryepiglottic folds vibrate. The aryepiglottic constriction is associated to a unique shape of the vocal tract, including the larynx tube, and characterizes growl.