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Updated: May 10, 2026
04:30
An Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Ageing on Sentence Processing
Published on: October 25, 2019
Normative voice data for younger and older adults.
Huiwen Goy1, David N Fernandes, M Kathleen Pichora-Fuller
1Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Summary
This study established age and gender norms for voice measures in healthy adults. Vocal changes with age differed between sexes, with older females showing more distinct alterations than older males.
Area of Science:
- Acoustic analysis of speech and voice.
- Gerontology and aging research.
- Human communication sciences.
Background:
- Establishing normative data for voice parameters is crucial for identifying vocal pathologies.
- Previous research has not comprehensively addressed age- and gender-specific voice norms in healthy adults using standardized methods.
- Understanding typical vocal aging patterns is essential for clinical assessment and intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To create age- and gender-specific normative data for a wide range of speech and voice measures.
- To investigate age-related differences in voice characteristics between healthy males and females.
- To utilize standardized recording procedures for reliable and reproducible results.
Main Methods:
- Recruited 159 younger (mean age 19.1 years) and 133 older (mean age 72.0 years) healthy, non-smoking English speakers.
- Collected voice samples by having participants phonate the vowel [a] and read the Rainbow Passage.
- Measured acoustic parameters including fundamental frequency (F0), jitter, shimmer, noise-to-harmonics ratio, harmonics-to-noise ratio, maximum phonation time, minimum phonation intensity, maximum pitch, Dysphonia Severity Index (DSI), speaking fundamental frequency (SF0), SF0 standard deviation (SF0SD), and signal intensity.
Main Results:
- Older females exhibited lower fundamental frequency (F0) and speaking fundamental frequency (SF0), and smaller SF0 standard deviation (SF0SD) compared to younger females.
- Shimmer increased with age in males, but jitter and shimmer did not significantly increase with age in females.
- Older females had a higher Dysphonia Severity Index (DSI) than younger females, while males showed similar DSI across age groups.
Conclusions:
- The study provides a valuable database of voice measures from a large, healthy adult sample, establishing age- and gender-specific norms.
- Age-related vocal changes manifest differently in males and females, with females experiencing more pronounced alterations in certain acoustic parameters.
- Despite sex-specific differences, overall age-related vocal changes in healthy adults were found to be limited.
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