Articles
A study carried out on the elderly at nursing homes employs experimental phonetics to examine their voice characteristics
2020 Volume 12 Pages 39-55
Details
2020 Volume 12 Pages 39-55
The present study analyzes the voice characteristics of elderly people regularly visiting nursing homes. The study was conducted using experimental phonetics methods in order to examine the voice characteristics of the elderly and to define the various changes that may accompany aging.
The results acquired using: sound pressure analysis, sound pitch analysis, length of sound duration and sound spectrogram (SPG) evaluations; indicate the typical voice characteristics of the elderly.
Within the scope of the implemented study, it was suggested that the two main factors that influence weakness or instability in the voices of the elderly; are (1) decreased sound pressure, and (2) pitch instability.
It was also suggested that training comprising recitation which (1) increases the amount of exhalation flow sent to the vocal cords, and (2) stabilizes vocal cord vibration; may improve the above mentioned voice characteristics of the elderly.
