title: Age- and sex-related variations in vocal-tract morphology and voice acoustics during adolescence.
abstract: Distinct differences in the human voice emerge during adolescence, with males producing deeper and more resonant voices than females by the end of sexual maturation. Using magnetic resonance images of heads and voice recordings obtained in 532 typically developing adolescents, we investigate what might be the drivers of this change in voice, and the subjective judgment of the voice "maleness" and "femaleness". We show clear sex differences in the morphology of voice-related structures during adolescence, with males displaying strong associations between age (and puberty) and both vocal-fold and vocal-tract length; this was not the case in female adolescents. At the same time, males (compared with females) display stronger associations between age (and puberty) with both fundamental frequency and formant position. In males, vocal morphology was a mediator in the relationship between bioavailable testosterone and acoustic indices. Subjective judgment of the voice sex could be predicted by the morphological and acoustic parameters in males only: the length of vocal folds and its acoustic counterpart, fundamental frequency, is a larger predictor of subjective "maleness" of a voice than vocal-tract length and formant position.
authors.affiliation: Rotman Research Institute, University of Toronto, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario M6A 2E1, Canada; Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, 6229, ER, Netherlands. Electronic address: dmarkova@research.baycrest.org.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Markova
authors.affiliation: Département des sciences de la santé, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, Québec G7H 2B1, Canada. Electronic address: louis_richer@uqac.ca.
authors.forename: Louis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Richer
authors.affiliation: Rotman Research Institute, University of Toronto, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario M6A 2E1, Canada. Electronic address: mpangelinan@research.baycrest.org.
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pangelinan
authors.affiliation: Rotman Research Institute, University of Toronto, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario M6A 2E1, Canada. Electronic address: deborah.schwartz@utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: Deborah H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.affiliation: Montréal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montréal, Québec H3A 2B4, Canada. Electronic address: gabriel.leonard@mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.affiliation: ECOBES, Recherche et transfert, Cegep de Jonquière, Jonquière, Québec G7X 3W1, Canada. Electronic address: michel.perron@cjonquiere.qc.ca.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perron
authors.affiliation: Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2G 0T1, Canada. Electronic address: bruce.pike@mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: G Bruce
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Pike
authors.affiliation: ECOBES, Recherche et transfert, Cegep de Jonquière, Jonquière, Québec G7X 3W1, Canada. Electronic address: suzanne.veillette@cjonquiere.qc.ca.
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Veillette
authors.affiliation: Cerebral Imaging Centre, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Verdun, Québec, H4H 1R3, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montréal, Québec H3A 1A1, Canada. Electronic address: mallar.chak@gmail.com.
authors.forename: M Mallar
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Chakravarty
authors.affiliation: The Hospital of Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8, Canada. Electronic address: zdenka.pausova@sickkids.ca.
authors.forename: Zdenka
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Pausova
authors.affiliation: Rotman Research Institute, University of Toronto, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario M6A 2E1, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto M5S 3G3, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5T 1R8, Canada; Child Mind Institute, New York, NY 10022, United States. Electronic address: tpaus@research.baycrest.org.
authors.forename: Tomáš
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Paus
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development / Q000502:physiology*; D000367:Age Factors; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012741:Sexual Maturation; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D014827:Vocal Cords / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D014831:Voice / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Magnetic resonance imaging; Puberty; Vocal instrument; Voice