title: Phonational profiles of male trained singers and nonsingers.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to compare the mean speaking fundamental frequency (SFF), speaking frequency range, and mean speaking intensity for a group of trained male singers and a group of age-matched non-singers in three age ranges: 20 to 35 years old; 40 to 55 years old; and older than 65 years. Each subject was recorded as he read "The Rainbow Passage" and produced the vowel /a/ to the limits of his phonational frequency range. The data indicated that the mean SFF of the nonsingers was significantly lower among the middle-aged speakers than with the young or elderly. In contrast, the tenors exhibited no age-related SFF trends, and the young bass/baritones exhibited lower SFF levels than the middle-aged or elderly. The elderly nonsingers produced frequency ranges that were smaller than any other group. Finally, the young nonsingers used greater speech intensity than did the other groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Disorders, Florida State University, Tallahassee 32306-2007, USA.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: W S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Hicks
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Howell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010699:Phonation / Q000502:physiology*; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D014833:Voice Quality