A CASE STUDY OF MENSTRUAL CYCLE EFFECTS:

GLOBAL PHONATION OR ALSO LOCAL PHONATORY PHENOMENA?

Míša Hejná ([email protected], Aarhus University)

Introduction Conclusion
The physiology of the larynx is affected by hormonal changes associated with the RQ1: Is global phonation (voice quality) affected by menstrual hormonal
menstrual cycle [e.g. 1], which can also affect phonatory aspects of speech [e.g. 1, changes? Yes. The effect size is small (as expected).
9, 13, 19, 26].
RQ2: Are the phonatory characteristics of phonologically voiced obstruents
Research Questions: affected by menstrual hormonal changes? Yes. This is in line with post-
RQ1: Is global phonation (voice quality) affected by menstrual hormonal aspiration research by [30-31] as well.
changes?
And more specifically, are voicing allophones more likely to be affected than
phonemes relying on the [voice] distinction?
RQ2: Are the phonatory characteristics of phonologically voiced obstruents
This is statistically supported only for one of the allophonic cases, although
affected by menstrual hormonal changes?
visual inspection suggests this for 3 of the 4 obstruents analysed.
More specifically, are voicing-related allophones (=non-contrastive) more likely
to be affected than phonemes relying on the [voice] distinction (=contrastive)? The amount of data analysed may be why some of the comparisons are not
statistically significant.

Methods Results
• 1 female subject
• healthily menstruating
• 26
has never been on contraceptives 18.5
• has never been pregnant and lactating
18.4
• 24
has never smoked & doesn’t drink
• has no known allergies 18.3
CPP (dB)

CPP (dB)

• isn’t a professional singer 22

• not aware of suffering from PMS 18.2
20
18.1
• 3 ovarian menstrual phases
• follicular, ovulation, luteal [9,18
17, 24] 18.0
• more details here
17.9
https://tinyurl.com/y5fh8mcz16
a1
a2
aa:5
:e1
e2
ee:5
: i1i2i:i:5
oo
12oo:5
:u1
u2
uu:5
: follicular luteal ovulation
• recorded once a day on 262 days ovarian phases ovarian phases
• phonologically short vowels of Czech twice
during each session ([a], [ɛ], [ɪ], [o ~ ɔ ~ ɒ], Figure 1: CPP (entire vowel) and ovarian phases. Figure 3: Voicing in /r̈/ and ovarian phases.
The lower the CPP, the breathier the vowel. Follicular vs luteal phases significant. 33% of /r̈/ voiced in the follicular phase, 35% in the luteal phase, 26% in
[u]) the ovulatory phase. Follicular vs ovulatory phases significant.
• phonologically long vowels of Czech
sustained for 5s and for maximum
phonation time ([aː], [ɛː], [iː], [o ~ ɔ ~ ɒː],
no glottalisation
[uː]) periodic creak
• sentence Řekni, řekni, Řehoři, že v řece plují aperiodic creak
number of tokens (%)

approx

úhoři. “Say, say, Gregory, that there are eels

0.8

swimming in the river.”

Segment Follicular Luteal Ovulation
0.4
barbell

Vowel 2,375 2,657 161

0.0

/ɦ/ 247 254 16

/ʒ/ 124 128 8 follicular luteal ovulation
/r̤/ 749 767 48 ovarian phases
[ʔ] 124 128 8
Table 1: Number of vowels and obstruents by ovarian phase.
Figure 2: Voicing in /ʒ/ and ovarian phases. Figure 4: Phonetic types of [ʔ] and ovarian phase.
48% of /ʒ/ voiced in the follicular phase, 47% in the luteal phase, 36% in the ovulatory phase. Aperiodic creak most frequent during ovulation. NS.
• for RQ1, breathiness quantified via Cepstral NS.
Peak Prominence (CPP; [8, 14]
• using VoiceSauce & Matlab [23, 27-28]
References
• voicing quantified as a percentage of the [1] Abitbol, J., Abitbol, P., Abitbol, B. 1999. Sex hormones and the female voice. Journal of Voice 13, 3, 424–446. [8] Fraile, R., Godino-Llorente, J. I. 2014. Cepstral Peak Prominence: a comprehensive analysis. Biomedical
Signal Processing and Control 14, 1, 42–54. [9] Gunjawate, D. R., Aithal, V. U., Ravi, R., Venkatesh, B. T. 2017. The effect of menstrual cycle on singing voice: a systematic review. Journal of Voice 31, 2, 188–194. [13] Higgins, M.
entire interval of the obstruent B., Saxman, J. H. 1989. Variations in vocal frequency perturbation across the menstrual cycle. Journal of Voice 3, 3, 233–243. [14] Klatt, D. H., Klatt, L. C. 1994. Analysis, synthesis, and perception of voice quality variations
among female and male talkers. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 87, 2, 820–857. [17] Knight, J. 2017. The Complete Guide to Fertility Awareness. London & New York: Routledge. [19] Kunduk, M.; Vansant, M. B., Ikuma, T., McWhorter,
A. 2016. The effects of the menstrual cycle on vibratory characteristics of the vocal folds investigated with high-speed digital imaging. Journal of Voice 31, 2, 182–187. [23] Matlab. 2016.
https://www.mathworks.com/products/new_products/release2016b.htm. [24] Paige, K. E., Magnus, E., Hahn, S., Carrie, C. 1985. The Female Reproductive Cycle. An Annotated Bibliography. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co.
• [ʔ] annotated as [26] Raj, A., Gupta, B., Chowdhury, A., Chadha, S. 2008. A study of voice changes in various phases of menstrual cycle and in postmenopausal women. Journal of Voice 24, 3, 363–368. [27] Shue, Y.-L. 2010. The Voice Source
in Speech Production: Data, Analysis and Models. PhD thesis, UCLA. [28] Shue, Y.-L., Keating, P., Vicenik, C., Yu, K. 2011. VoiceSauce: a program for voice analysis. Proc. 17th ICPhS Hong Kong, 1846–1849.
• absent, periodic creak, aperiodic creak [30] Wadnerkar, M. B., Cowell, P. E., Whiteside, S. P. 2006. Speech across the menstrual cycle: a replication and extension study. Neuroscience Letters 408, 21–24. [31] Whiteside, S. P., Hanson, A., Cowell, P. E. 2004.
Hormones and temporal components of speech: sex differences and effects of menstrual cyclicity on speech. Neuroscience Letters 367, 44–47.