THE QUALITY OF THE VOICE AND VOWEL TONES. 12 15 



The Quality of the Voice and Vowel Tones. 



The quality of the human voice depends on the same laws as those 

 determining the quality, Hangfarhe, or timbre of the tones produced by 

 any musical instrument. Tones of a mixed character — that is to say, 

 composed of a fundamental and partials — are produced by the vibrations 

 of the true vocal cords, and certain of these partials are strengthened by 

 the resonance of the air in the air passages and in the pharyngeal and 

 oral cavities. So strongly may certain of these partials be reinforced, as 

 to obscure or hide the fundamental tone, and give a peculiar character 

 to the sound. But there are still many difficulties in the way of a true 

 interpretation of voice tones. Thus we observe that we may sing a 

 scale, using one sound for each note, such as la, la, la, etc. Or, by 

 pulling the mouth in a certain position, we can pronounce the vowel 

 sounds, ah, a, e, 0, on (pronounced as the u in prune). As we do so, we 

 notice that each sound appears to the ear to have a pitch of its own, 

 different from that of the others. Helmholtz 1 gave the characteristic 

 pitch of the several vowel tones as follows : — 



Vowels 

 Tone 



No. of vibs. 



576 341 170 341 170 



Fig. 430. — Pitch of vowels according to Helmholtz. 



of the Vocal Bands," Arch. Laryngol., N.Y., 1883; Illingworth, "Mechanism of the 

 Voice," 1882; Jelenffy, Arch. f. d. ges. Physiol., Bonn, 1880, Bd. xxii. ; Koschlakoff, 

 " Ueber die Schwingungstypen der Stimmbiinder," Arch. f. Physiol., Leipzig, 1886; 

 Krzywicki, Verhandl. d. Bcrl. laryngol. Gesellsch., 1891-1892 ; Lermoyez, " Etude 

 expe>. sur la phonation," Paris. 1886; Lunn, "Philosophy of Voice," 1886 ; Morell 

 Mackenzie, "Hygiene of the Vocal Organs," 1890 ; Mandl, "Hygiene de la voix parle*e on 

 chantee," 1879 ; Martel, Rev. bibliog. univ, d. sc. mid., Paris, 1885 ; Merkel, " Anat. u. 

 Physiol, des menschlichen Stimm- u. Sprachorgans, " Leipzig, 1863 ; Meyer, Arch. f. 

 Physiol., Leipzig, 1889 ; Michael, "Die Bildung des Gesangs-register," 1887; Mills, Proc 

 Am. Ass. Adv. Sc, 1882; J. Midler, " Physiology," translated by Baly, London, 1837-42; 

 Neumann, Wien. mcd. Presse, 1893, No. 24 ; Oertel, "Ueber die Mechanisnms des Brust- 

 und Falsett-registers," 1882, "Laryngo - stroboscopische Examination," Miinchen. med. 

 Wchnschr., 1895, No. 11 ; Kethi, " Tension of the Cords," Monatschr. f. Ohrcnh., Berlin, 

 1894 ; Carl Seiler, " Physiology of Voice and Speech," Philadelphia, 1S8S ; Seiler, 

 "The Voice in Singing," 1881; Semon, Notices Proc. Roy. Inst. Great Britain, 1891; 

 Stockhausen, " Gesangsmethode, " Leipzig, 1884; Stork, "Sprechen und Singen," Wien, 

 1881. 



1 "Sensations of Tone," translated by Ellis, 1875, p. 165. See also same work, 

 p. 163, footnote 1, for results obtained by Merkel, Reyher, Hellwag, Flbrake, and 

 Donders. 



