Normative Voice Data for Younger and Older Adults in Arabic-Speaking Population

To establish normative acoustic parameters of young adults (20-55 years) and older adults (>55 years) in the Arabic-speaking population and to examine age-related changes in these parameters in order to better distinguish normal age-related changes from pathologic changes and to serve as reference data for clinical assessment and treatment.

One hundred and five healthy native Egyptian Arabic-speaking male participants and ninety-two healthy Egyptian Arabic-speaking female participants were divided into two groups based on age: younger adults (20-55 years) and older adults (>55 years); each group was divided into two groups: males and females. We analyzed four selected acoustic parameters [fundamental frequency (fo), jitter, shimmer, and noise-to-harmonic ratio (NHR)] and compared them between the groups.

In fo, there was an increase, yet not significant, from younger to older males. On the other hand, there was a significant decrease from younger to older females P value (0.001). The older males had a significantly higher jitter P value (0.005) and shimmer percent P value (0.008) than the younger males. The older females had a significantly higher shimmer percent P value (0.02) than the younger females. No significant differences were found as regards NHR in both genders.

This study provides a good understanding of age-related vocal changes in younger and older adults in the Egyptian Arabic-speaking population, as it shows differential effects of aging on acoustic voice characteristics according to gender.