1. Vocal Register Basic idea is pretty simple: As a speaker goes from low to medium to high f0, the obvious changes in glottal pulse rate are often accompanied by significant changes in what’s called the mode of phonation. What that means is that the glottal pulse shape at low, medium, and high f0 are not always just scaled versions of one another; i.e. the shape of the glottal waveform, and not just the fundamental period, can differ from one another.

2. There is solid evidence for three vocal registers: Modal: Covers a very large range of f0s in the middle of the f0 range. Often called chest register. Falsetto: Covers f0s at the high end of the f0 range. Also called head or loft register. Glottal fry: Covers f0s at the low end of the f0 range. It goes by many other names: vocal fry, pulse register, creaky voice, laryngealization, glottal rattle, glottal scrape, and strohbass.

3. What the Registers Sound Like Modal: You don’t need a demo of this. Modal what you hear most of the time. I’m using modal register right now, exclusively (or almost exclusively). Glottal fry demo by annoying, dumb lady: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsE5mysfZsY She does a great glottal fry (even when she’s not trying), but she is clueless about how the voice works, and everything she says about GF is wrong, except: (1) among some (mostly young) women it is a learned behavior that has for some reason become cool, (2) she (and many others) find it annoying.

4. What the Registers Sound Like Glottal fry: The low end of the f0 range. It sounds creaky. F0 is so low you can hear the individual glottal pulses – like running a stick along a picket fence. Glottal fry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiBykhGSWiY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiBykhGSWiY The f0 is quite high for a man, definitely in the adult female range, but the quality of the voice is very distinctive. No one would get the idea that these are women. Why? Because the mode of phonation is not the same as a woman speaking in modal register. More than the f0 has changed – the vibratory pattern/pulse shape has changed. We’ll see how in a minute.

5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uEKLqIUdX0 Another good glottal fry demo:

6. What the Registers Sound Like Modal: You don’t need a demo of this. Modal what you hear most of the time. I’m using modal register right now, exclusively (or almost exclusively). Falsetto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiBykhGSWiY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiBykhGSWiY The f0 is quite high for a man, definitely in the adult female range, but the quality of the voice is very distinctive. No one would get the idea that these are women. Why? Because the mode of phonation is not the same as a woman speaking in modal register. More than the f0 has changed – the vibratory pattern/pulse shape has changed. We’ll see how in a minute.

7. Shown below are glottal pulses at 3 f0s: 80 Hz, 200 Hz, and 300 Hz. These signals show what life would look like in a world without changes in vocal register: it may or may not look like it, but these glottal waveforms have exactly the same basic shape. The modal shape is stretched at low f0, contracted at higher f0., but otherwise the glottal waves are identical.