Overtone Singing

Chen-Gia Tsai
      The voice of overtone singing is characterized by a prominent formant. In this spectrum of a sound produced by a Taiwanese overtone singer, the 10th harmonic is stronger than its flanking components by more than 25 dB. It is not fully understood how the formant becomes so sharp.

Introduction

Overtone singing, also known as throat singing, is a vocal technique found in Central Asian cultures, by which one singer produces two pitches simultaneously. When listening to the performance, a high pitch of n*f0 can be perceived along with a low drone pitch of f0.

References

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Latest update: 06/2005