title: Immediate effect of sounded blowing exercise in the elderly voice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To observe the immediate effect of the sounded blowing exercise with semi-occluded vocal tract (SOVTE) in the voices of elderly subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-three subjects with 65 years of age or older, with no voice or hearing disorder complaints, and with good self-perceived general health participated in the study. All participants filled in a vocal self-evaluation questionnaire. The sustained vowel /ε/ was recorded in three distinct moments: the first, denominated habitual (H), based on the subject's regular production; the second, usage (U), after one minute of continuous spontaneous conversation; the third, exercise (E), carried out after a one-minute execution of the SOVTE. After the exercise, the subjects self-evaluated the changes perceived in their voices. The recordings were edited and randomly paired, considering two moments of the same subject: H/U; H/E and U/E, for further perceptual examination of the better production by three specialized speech-language pathologists.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no differences between H and U (p=0.199) and between U and E (p=0.773). However, the E production was considered better than the H production (p=0.004). In the vocal self-evaluation, most subjects (n=25, 75.8%) did not observe immediate effects in their voices after the exercise.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The SOVTE produced positive immediate effects on the vocal quality of elderly subjects, observed only at the perceptual-auditory evaluation.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudo da Voz, São Paulo, Brasil. rgsiracusa@uol.com.br
authors.forename: Maria das Graças de Paiva
authors.initials: Md
authors.lastname: Siracusa
authors.forename: Gisele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Glaucya
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Madazio
authors.forename: Mara
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Behlau
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012647:Self-Assessment; D013068:Speech Production Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D014831:Voice / Q000502:physiology; D014832:Voice Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control; D014834:Voice Training