Multidimensional Voice Data on Participants With Perceptually Normal Voices From Ages 60 to 80: A Preliminary Acoustic Reference for the Elderly Population

Objective. The purpose of this study was to provide a preliminary acoustic reference for an elderly population (aged 60-80) with perceptually normal voices to determine the degree of noise in the vocal signal of this population; a younger population (aged 20-30) with perceptually normal voices participated for comparison. The participants were tested on the Multidimensional Voice Program (model 5105, KayPENTAX, Lincoln Park, NJ), and the following acoustic parameters were evaluated: relative average perturbation (cycle-to-cycle frequency perturbations), shimmer (cycle-to-cycle amplitude perturbations), and noise-to-harmonic ratio (degree of noise in the vocal signal). Method. Fifty participants between the ages of 60 and 80 (mean age, 69.5) and 50 participants between the ages of 20 and 30 (mean age, 23.23) were tested by sustaining the vowel /a/on the Multidimensional Voice Program. Voice and/or speech samples were also recorded for each participant to reveal perceptually normal voices. Results. The older group had significantly higher levels of relative average perturbation, shimmer, and noise-to-harmonic ratio than the younger group, and males had significantly higher levels of shimmer than females. Conclusion and Implications. The acoustic values obtained for the older group with perceptually normal voices resembled data in the literature, particularly when the ages of the participants in the studies were similar. The present findings may possibly be used as a preliminary reference against which to compare clinical acoustic data to older clients with dysphonic voices.