title: Sex hormones and the elderly male voice.
abstract: The objective was to describe influences of sex hormones on the male voice in an elderly cohort. Sixty-three elderly males were recruited to undergo assessment of voice parameters, stroboscopy, voice-related questionnaires, a blood draw, and an ultrasound examination of the laryngeal skeleton. The group was divided into men with normal hormonal status and men with lowered levels of sex hormones, called hypogonades. Depending on the level of androgens, voice parameters did not differ. In subjects with decreased levels of estrogens, a significant increase in mean fundamental frequency, as well as changes of highest and lowest frequency plus a shift of the frequency range could be detected. We could detect significant changes of voice parameters depending on status of estrogens in elderly males. Androgens appear to have no impact on the elderly male voice. To our knowledge, this is the first prospective study that correlates sex hormones with voice parameters in elderly men.
authors.affiliation: ENT University Hospital, Department of Phoniatrics, Medical University, Graz, Austria. markus.gugatschka@klinikum-graz.at
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gugatschka
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kiesler
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Obermayer-Pietsch
authors.forename: Bernadette
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schoekler
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schmid
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Groselj-Strele
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Friedrich
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000728:Androgens / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004958:Estradiol / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D004967:Estrogens / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007830:Larynx / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D049489:Stroboscopy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014743:Videotape Recording; D014831:Voice / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D000728:Androgens; D004967:Estrogens; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones; D004958:Estradiol