Harmonic Frontier has published the full preview set for Human Vocality Primitives (HVP), a purpose-recorded dataset of non-lexical human vocal sounds. The project isolates breath, phonation modes, resonance behavior, and vocal gestures as primary subjects rather than incidental byproducts of speech or performance.
The taxonomy is organized around control axes, with each category isolating a single dimension of vocal production:
- Airflow & Airstream Primitives (4 categories): sustained breath states, whisper and aspiration, breathing cycles, plosive and consonant bursts.
- Phonation Mode Primitives (5 categories): modal, breathy and semi-modal, vocal fry and subharmonic, falsetto/loft, pressed and constricted.
- Formant & Resonance Primitives (3 categories): vowel morphing and formant shifts, nasalization and velum control, overtone and harmonic formant interaction.
- Gestural & Expressive Primitives (5 categories): non-lexical vocal gestures, emotional vocalizations, mouth clicks and pops, inhales and reverse phonation, effort and exertion.
Technical specifications include 96 kHz / 24-bit WAV files captured in a controlled room with no mastering or normalization. All material is rights-cleared with full metadata covering source, articulation labeling, and provenance.