Introduction Phonation, or the formation of speech sounds, is produced through the vibrations made by the vocal folds.

Unfortunately, to directly observe how the vocal folds vibrate is difficult and invasive; clinicians therefore use electroglottographs (EGGs) to measure when and for how long the folds are closed. The information gathered about when and for how long the closure lasts can tell us the speakers fundamental frequency-the overall rate at which a body vibrates- and whether theyre producing speech sounds in modal, falsetto or pulse mode (Gick, Wilson, & Derrick, 2013, p. 86). Modal voice is the most common and what is used during normal speech; the vocal folds close completely and open back up in the same amount of time (Gick et al., 2013, p.78). The highest modal can overlap with the lowest falsetto, falsetto voice has the highest fundamental frequency between the three and the folds are opened much more and rarely close altogether (Gick et al., 2013, p.113). Pulse voice is the deepest out of the three and has an open/close vocal fold cycle where the folds are closed for the majority of speech production. Finally, an EGG will also measure the time spent between the complete open/close cycle and the time spent where the vocal folds are closed; this is referred to as the closed quotient and can help in determining which mode one is phonating in. The purpose of this experiment is to measure the students phonation to determine their fundamental frequencies and closed quotients by prolonging the /i/ vowel sound in falsetto, modal and pulse modes.