Perceived Femininity in Singing Voice: Analysis and Prediction

Abstract

This paper focuses on the often-overlooked aspect of perceived voice femininity in singing voices. While existing research has examined perceived voice femininity in speech, the same concept has not yet been studied in singing voice. The analysis of gender bias in music content could benefit from such study. To address this gap, we design a stimuli-based survey to measure perceived singing voice femininity (PSVF), and collect responses from 128 participants. Our analysis reveals intriguing insights into how PSVF varies across different demographic groups. Furthermore, we propose an automatic PSVF prediction model by fine-tuning an x-vector model, offering a novel tool for exploring gender stereotypes related to voices in music content analysis beyond binary sex classification. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the complexities surrounding perceived femininity in singing voices by analyzing survey and proposes an automatic tool for future research.