Does singing style correlate to social behaviour? - A revision of the Cantometric descriptor vocal tension and its correlation to the subordination of women in society

Abstract

This is a presentation of work-in-progress for the FMA conference 2012 in Seville. The project described in this article is concerned with the Cantometric descriptor vocal width or vocal tension. This vocal quality was shown to correlate with subordination of women in the society by Alan Lomax and the Cantometrics team. In the current project the choice of this aspect of Cantometric parametrisation is put under scrutiny. Methods for automated extraction of the relevant vocal production qualities are investigated with the goal to reproduce or refute Cantometrics' findings using new data and avoiding the subjectivity of manual rating. Inverse filtering is identified as a possible approach for semi -automatic detection of phonation modes and ways to automate it are discussed.