, Hiroshi Imagawa

Among the so-called extended vocal techniques, vocal growl is a rather common effect in some ethnic (e.g. the Xhosa people in South Africa) and pop styles (e.g. Jazz, Louis Armstrong-type) of music. Growl usually consists of simultaneous vibrations of the vocal folds and supra-glottal structures of the larynx, either in harmonic or sub-harmonic co-oscillation. This paper examines growl mechanism using vide-ofluoroscopy and high-speed imaging, and its acousit-cal characteristics by spectral analysis and model simu-lation. In growl, the larynx position is usually high and aryepiglottic folds vibrate. The aryepiglottic constriction is associated to a unique shape of the vocal tract, includ-ing the larynx tube, and characterizes growl. 1