Abstract
The voices of 20 males with a mean age of 78 years and 24 females with a mean age of 75 years were examined with a micro-computer and a phonation analyzer. In this study we examined the voice quality and phonatory function of aged persons.
The voice of aged male is characterized by a decrease of harmonics and that of aged female is characterized by a decrease of fundamental frequency. These changes may be caused by an atrophy of vocal fold in aged males and by an edematous change of vocal fold in aged females. In both aged males and females, amplitude perturbation becomes large and especially in aged males frequency perturbation also becomes large. These changes are thought to be caused by several factors related to aging, such as atrophy or edematous change of vocal fold mucosa, clumsiness of fine regula-tion of laryngeal muscles or a decrease of lubrication.
As a phonatory function test, both aged males and females showed a decrease of maximal phonation time. And aged males showed an increase of air flow rate. These changes may be caused by a decrease of lung function, and especially in aged males, these changes are thought to be related to the glottal gap.
