Objectives: Genetic inheritance in voice is a relatively new exploration. From the few studies that exist, we see there are both genetic and environmental influences on voice production. This preliminary study, which will be developed over time, aims to uncover more detail in the genetic realm and involves a well-known singer and singing teacher who was adopted at birth. She never knew the identity of her biological father until much later in life, when she discovered he was not only a singer, but the “King of Bluegrass.” This unique circumstance provides us with the opportunity to explore the heritable aspects of voice as our subjects were never together, hence avoiding any environmental influences. Through analyses of both speech and singing examples from our two subjects, we will discuss findings regarding average fundamental frequency, pitch variability (FO SD), articulatory rate, and formant similarities/dissimilarities. We will also explore the modulation of FO in order to account for male/female differences and have a panel of expert listeners assess the similarities of the sound examples.
Methods: We use Praat to extract average FO, pitch variability (FO SD), articulatory rate, and the formant frequencies from isolated pitches and vowels with both subjects for comparison. We also explore the adjustment of pitch level to account for male/female differences and have a panel of experts rate the results with regard to their level of similarity.
Results and Conclusions: We will share our results, comparing them to the known outcome of other studies in this area. Aspects discussed will include average fundamental frequency, pitch variability (FO SD), articulatory rate, and formant similarities/dissimilarities.