title: Aspects of the speaking voice of elderly women with choral singing experience.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite several studies related to singing and aging voice found in the literature, there is still the need for investigation seeking to understand the effects of this practice in the speaking voice of the elderly.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To compare the characteristics of the speaking voice of elderlies with experience in choral singing with those of elderlies without this experience.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were 75 elderly women: 50 with experience in choral singing - group of singers (SG) and 25 without experience - group of nonsingers (NSG). A questionnaire was applied to characterize the elderly and collect data with respect to lifestyle and voice. Speech samples (sustained vowels, repetition of sentences, and running speech excerpts) were collected in a quiet room in sitting position. The voices were analyzed by three expert speech-language pathologists according to the protocol Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-V). Data were submitted to descriptive and statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The voices of elderly nonsingers (NSG) showed significant increase in scores related to the overall degree of deviance and presence of roughness and strain.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Analysis of the aspects of the speaking voice of subjects in the SG, compared with that of subjects in the NSG, showed better overall degree of deviance due to lower roughness and strain.
authors.affiliation: Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo - PUC-SP - São Paulo (SP), Brasil.
authors.forename: Fernanda Salvatico de
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Aquino
authors.affiliation: Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo - PUC-SP - São Paulo (SP), Brasil.
authors.forename: Marta Assumpção Andrada E
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Universidade de São Paulo - USP - Bauru (SP), Brasil.
authors.forename: Lídia Cristina da Silva
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Teles
authors.affiliation: Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo - PUC-SP - São Paulo (SP), Brasil.
authors.forename: Léslie Piccolotto
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Ferreira
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D063346:Singing / Q000502:physiology*; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D014831:Voice / Q000502:physiology*; D014833:Voice Quality