The mapping of voice parameters in connected speech of healthy Common Czech male speakers

This study examines a set of voice parameters to map objective ranges of voice-source characteristics of healthy male speakers of Common Czech. Objective assessment of voice quality is conducted mainly in speakers with voice pathologies, typically using sustained vowels as basis for measurements. In our study, we focused on nonpathological voices and performed acoustic measruments of the voice parameters which are believed to reflect glottal characteritics. The analyses were based on the open vowels [a a:] extracted from fifty healthy male speakers who performed a reading task. Voice parameter estimation included f0 perturbation measures (jitter and shimmer), harmonicity (HNR), Cepstral Peak Prominence (CPP), and harmonic amplitude measures which reflect shortterm spectral slope (e.g., H1−H2, H2−H4, or H1−A3). The obtained data relate to connected speech and are compared to the measurements on sustained vowels.