Dominique Polanco ’23
Unveiling the Acoustical Mysteries Within the Human Voice
Dominique Polanco ’23, Physics major, Mathematics minor
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Theresa Moreau, Engineering and Physics
Have you ever wondered how singers are able to sing the way that they do? In this project, vocal sound is analyzed via spectral analysis to visually contrast higher quality vocal sound with lower quality vocal sound. The main goal is to determine the differences in sound produced from that of a trained singer versus that of an untrained singer, and how an untrained voice can be altered to produce quality sound, similar to that of a trained singer. In working in conjunction with faculty and students in the music department, sound samples have been collected for different genres of music, sung by a variety of singers, each with a distinct voice. The sound samples have then been studied through Fourier analysis, to provide visual feedback for singers so that they can produce the features that correspond to the highest quality sound.
Poster Presentation: Wednesday, April 26, 2 – 4 p.m.
