Voice Science, Acoustics And Recording

From The Critics

Reviewer: Adrienne B. Hancock, PhD(George Washington University)
Description: This is a wonderful overview of acoustics and how to understand human voice production and the effects various spaces have on measuring vocal acoustics. The instrumentation and instructions for collecting accurate data is described clearly with many figures.
Purpose: The authors aim to inform and guide a wide variety of readers in their understanding of the science of voice production and recording and thereby improve the accuracy of our measurements and interpretations. These objectives, coupled with a practical yet thorough presentation, were achieved remarkably well.
Audience: Professional voice users, voice trainers, and those who record voices (e.g., researchers, speech-language pathologists) would find this book useful. The very advanced or experienced voice recorder may not find new information, but could benefit from the references and tables and figures that are easy to use.
Features: The book begins with basic acoustic principles and then applies them to voice production, how a recording space influences the sound, and how recording instrumentation can best capture the sound. The jargon-free writing, subheadings, and abundance of tables and figures help the reader progress into applications of acoustics with less trepidation than may be expected.
Assessment: Overall, this is a useful resource for professionals involved in voice performance or recording. I also suspect that speech-language pathology undergraduate acoustic/speech science courses would benefit from using this book. Whereas many of those courses are taught in the context of hearing and audiology, this book presents acoustics in context of voice.