What is formant?


    When identifying dissimilar sounds such as human vowels, the ears are most sensitive to peaks in the signal spectrum. These resonant peaks in the spectrum are called formants (Figure 1).







   <Figure 1> Spectrum of vocal utterance of the vowel /i/. The smooth line on the lower spectrum is of the vocal tract transfer function. The resonant           peaks of this curve are called formants. (http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/linguistics/russell/138/sec4/formants.htm)



    Each vowel has different formant frequencies and bandwidths. Furthermore, every human being has his/her unique formant frequencies/bandwidths. The next table (Table 1.) shows the first three formant frequencies of several vowel sounds for male, female, and child, respectively.



vowel

F1
F2
F3
ee male
270
2290 3010
female
310
2790
3310
child
370
3200
3730
e male
530
1840
2480
female
610
2330
2990
child
690
2610
3570
ae male
660
1720
2410
female
850
2050
2850
child
1030
2320
3320
ah
male
730
1090
2440
female
590
1220
2810
child
680
1370
3170
oo
male
300
870
2240
female
370
950
2670
child
430
1170
3260

<Table 1> Peterson formant table (76 speakers averaged) (1952)





    Reference

    Perry R. Cook, "Identification of control parameters in an articulatory vocal tract model, with applications to the synthesis of singing", 1990, Ph.D Dissertation, CCRMA