Acoustic Comparison of Vowel Articulation in Normal and Reverse Phonation

Acoustic characteristics of the vowels /i,u,a/ produced by adult females and males during normal phonation were compared with the same vowels produced on deliberate ingressive airflow (i.e., "reverse" phonation). Results of the analysis revealed the average fundamental frequency (F₀) of reverse phonation to be significantly higher than the corresponding normal phonations. There were no significant differences noted in the vocal tract resonance (F1 and F2 frequency) values for /i/ during normal and reverse phonation. However, the F1 values for /a/ were significantly lower, and the F2 values for /u/ significantly higher, during reverse phonation. The results are discussed with regard to differences in the articulatory control of the speech mechanism during reverse phonation as compared to normal expiratory phonation. Also discussed are the implications of using reverse phonation as a voice management technique.