title: Vocal characteristics during child development: perceptual-auditory and acoustic data.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze perceptual-auditory and acoustic characteristics of children's voices of different age ranges.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety-three 3- to 10-year-old children grouped from 3 to 5, 6 to 7, and 8 to 10 years served as participants. The severity of vocal deviation and the parameters of roughness, breathiness, strain, and instability were assessed using a visual analog scale. We calculated the mean and standard deviation of fundamental frequency (F0), jitter, shimmer, and glottal-to-noise excitation ratio for the sustained vowel, and the mean of F0 variability for connected speech.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most affected voices were in the age range 8-10 years, and only the phonation tension level was reduced as a result of aging. There were significant differences between children aged 3-5 years and the other age ranges for F0 mean for sustained vowels and F0 variability.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Children aged 8-10 years had the highest severity of vocal deviation. There was a significant reduction of phonation tension and measure of F0, jitter, and shimmer after the age of 5 years.
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech and Language Pathology, Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil.
authors.forename: Leonardo Wanderley
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Lopes
authors.forename: Ivonaldo Leidson Barbosa
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.forename: Elma Heitmann Mares
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Azevedo
authors.forename: Maria Fabiana Bonfim
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: de Lima-Silva
authors.forename: Débora Pontes
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Cavalcante
authors.forename: Larissa Nadjara Alves
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: de Almeida
authors.forename: Anna Alice Figueirêdo
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: de Almeida
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D055154:Dysphonia / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010699:Phonation; D012016:Reference Values; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013067:Speech Perception; D064232:Visual Analog Scale; D014833:Voice Quality