Formant frequency characteristics in normal Arabic-speaking Jordanians

This study is designed to test the acoustic characteristics of the normal Arabic voice. The subjects were 300 normal Arabic speakers (100 adult males, 100 adult females, and 100 children). The subjects produced a sustained phonation of the six steady state Arabic vowels (/i:/, /e:/, /a:/, /α/, /o:/, and /u:/). The samples were input into the Time-Frequency Analysis Software (TF32). F0, F1, F2, and F3 of the six Arabic vowels were analyzed. Comparisons among speakers of Jordanian Arabic showed that males' formant frequencies were significantly different in comparison with those of females and children. On the other hand, a significant difference was found between females and children in F1, but not in F2 or F3. Comparison with other ethnicities indicated that adult Arab males' formant frequencies showed a generally lower F1 and F2 and a higher F3; adult Arab females' formant frequencies showed a generally higher F1 and lower F2 and F3; whereas children formant frequencies showed a generally lower F1, F2, and F3. It is recommended that speech-language pathologists in Jordan use the new formant norms when evaluating and/or treating Jordanian Arabic speakers.