When
this is done, and a vowel sound whispered, a distinctly resonant note can
be heard. Helmholtz and a number of distinguished German physicists and
physiologists have analysed the vowel sounds in the whispering voice and
obtained very different results. If their experiments show nothing else,
they certainly indicate that there are no universally fixed resonances for
any particular vowel sound. Some of the discrepancies may (as Aikin points
out) be due to the conditions of the experiment not being conducted under
the same conditions. Aikin, indeed, asserts that if the directions given
above be fulfilled, there will be variations between full-grown men and
women of one or two tones, and between different men and different women of
one or two semi-tones, and not much more. As he truly affirms, if the tube
is six inches long a variation of three-quarters of an inch could only make
a difference of a whole tone in the resonance, and he implies that the
different results obtained by these different experimenters were due to the
faulty use of the resonator.
In ordinary conversation much faulty pronunciation is overlooked so long as
the words themselves are intelligible, but in singing and public speaking
every misuse of the resonator is magnified and does not pass unnoticed.
Pages:
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57