Acoustic properties of vocally disruptive behaviors in the nursing home.
BACKGROUND
Disruptive vocalizations are among the most common behavior problems in the nursing home. However, their acoustic properties have not been previously investigated.


OBJECTIVE
This paper examines the acoustic properties of disruptive vocalizations and attempts to link them to resident and verbalization characteristics.


METHODS
This study characterizes the sounds emitted by 26 nursing home residents who manifested disruptive vocalizations. Verbalizations were audiotaped and then used in a sonographic evaluation and an acoustic analysis.


RESULTS
Vocalizations of verbally agitated nursing home residents were characterized by their relatively short duration. Consistent positive correlations were found between seemingly disturbing types of vocalizations, such as yelling and howling, and higher levels of several parameters of the fundamental frequency. A similar positive correlation was also found between acoustic parameters and medical disease indicators. With the exception of the length of stream of utterances, the indicators did not differentiate between types of dementia.


CONCLUSIONS
Because of the large number of comparisons undertaken, it is difficult to conclude which associations between acoustic properties and resident or vocalization characteristics are attributable to real underlying trends and which are due to chance and error. Consistencies that deserve further research pertain to the perceptions of the types of vocalizations the person tends to emit and to the physical health of the person.
Cohen-Mansfield
Jiska
J
Research Institute on Aging of the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington, Rockville, MD 20852, USA.
Werner
Perla
P
Hammerschmidt
Kurt
K
Newman
John D
JD
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019958:Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009735:Nursing Homes; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*