Air Flow During Vocal Fry Phonation

Abstract

Five male and five female speakers, who were free of any voice disorder, were required to sustain vocal fry phonation at three pitch levels; one an arbitrary Standard level, another lower than the standard, and a third higher. Recordings were made and analyzed of air flow and the acoustic signal of these phonations. This study showed that: 1) the fundamentals of vocal fry were lower than those produced in the modal register; 2) air flow rates were less than found for either modal phonation or falsetto; and 3) there was no correlation between changes in fry frequency and changes in air flow.