title: Speaking Fo and cepstral periodicity analysis of conversational speech in a 105-year-old woman: variability of aging effects.
abstract: We investigated speaking fundamental frequency and periodicity of voicing during conversational speech in a 105-year-old woman. Analyses revealed higher mean speaking fundamental frequency compared to previously published data obtained from elderly women. In the absence of normative data, the results of cepstrum analyses performed on vowels produced during connected speech revealed less periodicity for the 105-year-old woman's voice than for a 35-year-old woman's voice. The main finding of this study indicates that previously reported group trends regarding aging effects on mean speaking fundamental frequency of the female voice cannot simply be attributed to all elderly individuals. These results stress the importance, for clinical and research purposes, of recognizing the existence of considerable intra- as well as intersubject variability in the effects of aging on the voice.
authors.affiliation: School of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Kent State University, OH 44242-0001, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Max
authors.forename: P B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Mueller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010507:Periodicity; D010699:Phonation / Q000502:physiology; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*