Acoustic and perceptual characteristics of the voices of sedentary and physically active elderly speakers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate perceptual and acoustic characteristics of the voices of physically active and sedentary elderly speakers. Recordings of sustained phonations of the vowel /a/ were obtained from 31 male and female elderly speakers. Twenty adult listeners judged the chronological ages of the elderly speakers from their oral performance. The acoustic parameters of Fo, Fo standard deviation, jitter per cent, shimmer per cent, shimmer in dB and noise-harmonic ratio were measured from the sustained vowel phonations of the elderly speakers. Results indicated that physically active elderly speakers were judged as chronologically younger, had less jitter per cent and Fo standard deviation, than their sedentary cohorts. The results of this study demonstrate the importance of defining laryngeal aging physiologically as well as chronologically.

Key Words:

• aging voice
• physically active
• sedentary elderly
• acoustic parameters