Synchronous Multimodal Measurements on Lips and Glottis: Comparison Between Two Human-Valve Oscillating Systems

The brass instrument-player and the human voice production systems are both composed of a vibrating “human valve” coupled to an acoustic resonator and can be modelled by very similar dynamical systems. Moreover, lips and glottis are both difficult to access during sound production without disturbing their mechanical behaviour and vibration characteristics. In this article, we introduce a common measurement and analysis framework in order to study and compare the vibration of lips and glottis during sound production. Based on previous studies conducted on vibrating vocal folds, our measurement system is composed of three synchronous measurements –electrical admittance (electroglottography and electrolabiography), high-speed video recording and sound recording– and allows relatively non-intrusive measurements to be performed on singers and trombone players. Analysis of the collected data highlights the interpretability of electrolabiographic signals. Furthermore, similarities and differences between the two valve systems are investigated with regard to high speed imaging, electrical admittance and basic characteristics of the radiated sound.