The Effects of Conversational Priming on Vocal Fry Use in College Aged Female Students

Abstract

Background: The use of vocal fry is increasingly common in young adult American females. Research suggests possible explanations for this trend, however there is no concrete evidence to explain why some individuals use vocal fry more than others. Purpose: To determine the impact of auditory vocal fry priming on the use of vocal fry in a young adult female population. Methods: Twenty-eight females completed a total of eight voice recordings (sustained phonation, reading of the rainbow passage, and conversational speech) before and after being primed with two videos – one with an individual who spoke in a resonant voice and the other who spoke in vocal fry. Recordings were analyzed for changes in fundamental frequency, minimum pitch, maximum pitch, jitter, shimmer, noise-to-harmonics ratio, and percentage of vocal fry used. Conclusion: No statistically significant differences were found for any of the dependent variables across conditions.