Abstract
Frequencies of the first (F1) and second (F2) formants of five Japanese vowels were extracted from speech samples of forty aged persons. F1-F2relationships were plotted and compared to those of younger persons. It was found that the clarity of each vowel and the difference between the sexes were reduced in the elderly.
Spectrographic analysis of the consonant /k/ using the same speech samples revealed that the relative power of /k/ was weakened in aged persons.
These facts suggest that speech characteristics of aged persons are greatly influenced senile changes in the vocal tract and in articulatory movements.
