title: Vocal Characteristics of Elderly Women Engaged in Aerobics in Private Institutions of Salvador, Bahia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To characterize the voice of elderly people engaged in aerobics.
  
  
  METHODS
  Collection of phonation /a:/ from 58 elderly people engaged in aerobics for perceptual voice analysis (RASATI scale) and computed acoustics (Multi Dimensional Voice Program Advanced, software of Kay Pentax®, that analyzes up to 33 measures, proposing normal ranges according to sex). The Spearman correlation test was used, with significance level of 5%.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The association between auditory-perceptual assessment of voice and acoustic parameters was not statistically significant but showed less vocal quality deviations. The association between acoustic measures and age was only statistically significant result for the measurement of fundamental frequency (f0) and maximum f0 (fhi). There was no correlation between time of aerobics and acoustic measures, but there was correlation of those measurements with age. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between f0 and fhi with minimal roughness and standard deviation of f0 with hoarseness, breathiness, and asthenia; jitter and shimmer measures with hoarseness, breathiness, and asthenia; noise measurements with hoarseness, breathiness, and harshness; measures of breaking voice hoarseness and breathiness; measures of voiceless segments with hoarseness and asthenia; measures of subharmonic with hoarseness; and measures of vocal tremor with breathiness, asthenia, and instability. There was a significant negative correlation between minimum f0 with breathiness; jitter measures with tension; and soft phonation index with roughness and instability.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Elderly women engaged in aerobics showed mostly normal voice, with most values of acoustic measures within normal and positive correlations between perceptual and auditory vocals and acoustic aspects that suggest instability, noise, and vocal tremor.
authors: Post-Graduate Program in Health Science, Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Electronic address: famycolman@yahoo.com.br.
authors: Famiely
authors: F
authors: Colman Machado de Machado
authors: Department of Speech Pathology, Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
authors: Carla Aparecida
authors: CA
authors: Cielo
authors: Post-Graduate Program in Health Science, Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, Bahia, Brazil; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Medical School, Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
authors: Marcus Miranda
authors: MM
authors: Lessa
authors: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Medical School, Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
authors: Luiz Henrique Fonseca
authors: LH
authors: Barbosa
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging; D001938:Brazil; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007828:Laryngoscopy; D010699:Phonation; D017149:Private Sector; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013067:Speech Perception; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D049489:Stroboscopy; D013997:Time Factors; D014832:Voice Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014833:Voice Quality
keywords: Aging; Elderly; Gymnastics; Voice; Voice disorders