Envelhecimento e voz: características principais e repercussão social

Abstract

Aim To compare the aging subject s voice, teachers and non-teachers, and verify their voice's social repercussion. Method In 47 subjects, older than 65, males and females, being 23 teachers (GP) and 24 non-teachers (GNP) the voice related quality of life protocol V-RQOL has been applied. From the collected speech sample, were realized the vocal parameters evaluation obtained through the perceptual-auditory voice analysis, followed by the perceived vocal age and pleasantness analysis. Results All the subjects (GP) and (GNP) had lower scores in the physical domain of the V-RQOL when compared to the socio-emotional domain; and there were no statistical significant difference between the perceptual-auditory analysis and perceived vocal age and between the perceived vocal age and pleasantness results for both groups. In the GP, there was significance between the chronological age and loudness variation (negative correlation and p = 0,042); chronological age and perceived vocal age (positive correlation and p = 0,008); pleasantness and loudness (positive correlation and p = 0,035) and pleasantness and pitch variation (positive correlation and p = 0,019). In the GNP there was significance between chronological age and speech rate (negative correlation and p = 0,038); perceived vocal age and the period of physical activity practice (negative correlation and p = 0,028). Conclusion The GP and GNP vocal parameters were similar and there is no significant statistical relation among the voice parameters, the V-RQOL protocol scores and the perceived vocal age for both groups. The voice pleasantness had no significant statistical relation with the perceived vocal age for both groups, only with the loudness and the pitch variation parameters for the GP subjects