TABLE 304.— CHARACTERISTIC RESONANCE VALUES OF 

 SPOKEN VOWELS 103 



311 



The '"pitch" of one's voice, i.e., his fundamental frequency, fluctuates considerably during 

 conversational speech, and there is a great deal of variation from individual to individual. 

 The average fundamental frequency for the average male voice in conversational English 

 speech is in the neighborhood of 130 cps, while the corresponding value for the female voice 

 is 230 cps. 



The vocal cords, housed in the larynx, emit a pressure wave that is essentially "sawtooth" 

 in character. The numerous harmonics that result from this complex wave form are selec- 

 tively transmitted to the open air. The throat, mouth, nose, and constrictions formed by the 

 tongue and lips are most important in determining the frequency characteristics of the 

 transmission system. The pressure spectrum of speech has many peaks. Apparently vowel 

 sounds are distinguished by the position of these resonant peaks. The following table gives 

 representative frequencies of the first two principal resonant peaks for different vowel 

 sounds spoken by the average male adult : 



Frequency 

 of 1st 

 Vowel in- principal 



dicated by resonant 



italics in peak 



the words cps 



see 290 



sit 440 



\ct 585 



sat 725 



father 780 



103 Potter, R. K., and Peterson, G. E., Journ. Acoust. Soc. Amer., vol. 20, p. 528, 1948. 



TABLE 305.— APPROXIMATE RANGE OF FUNDAMENTAL FREQUENCY ON 

 ORCHESTRAL INSTRUMENTS 



The values given are for average instruments in tune with A440 cps. The lower fre- 

 quency limits of some special instruments are indicated in brackets. 



Frequency 



range in 



cps 



Lower Upper 

 Instrument limit limit 



Violin 195 2093 



Viola 131 1318 



Cello 65 880 



Bass (32) 41 262 



Piccolo 587 4186 



Flute 261 2043 



Oboe 233 1397 



English horn 164 934 



Clarinet (138) 146 1568 



Bass clarinet (65) 73 467 



Bassoon 58 623 



Contra bassoon 30 175 



Eb alto saxophone 138 831 



Frequency 



range in 



cps 



Lower Upper 



Instrument limit limit 



Bb tenor saxophone 103 623 



Eb baritone saxophone... 69 416 



Trumpet 164 1047 



French horn 61 699 



Trombone (51) 82 524 



Bass tuba 41 234 



Piano 27 4186 



Organ (16) 32 4186 



Harp 32 3136 



Soprano voice 261 1568 



Tenor voice 123 1174 



Alto voice 174 933 



Baritone voice 98 416 



Bass voice 65 294 



SMITHSONIAN PHYSICAL TABLES 



