Normative Nasalance Scores for Middle-Aged and Elderly Speakers of Brazilian Portuguese.

OBJECTIVES: This study establishes normative nasalance values for middle-aged and elderly Brazilian Portuguese-speakers and investigates age and gender effects across the life span. METHODS: Nasalance scores were obtained from 62 middle-aged (45-59 years) and 60 elderly (60-79 years) participants with normal speech for 3 nonnasal, 1 phonetically balanced, and 2 nasal-loaded test sentences using the Nasometer II 6400. The data were combined with a published data set of 237 speakers in 4 groups: children (5-9 years), adolescents (10-19 years), young adults (20-24 years), and mature adults (25-35 years). A repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to investigate differences between the stimuli by gender and age groups. RESULTS: There were statistically significant effects of stimulus, gender, and age group, as well as a stimulus-age group interaction effect and a gender-age group interaction effect. The females' mean nasalance scores were higher than those of the males. The mean nasalance scores for the child, adolescent, and young and mature adult speakers were significantly lower than those for the elderly speakers, and the children's scores were significantly lower than those of the middle-aged speakers. CONCLUSION: Higher nasalance scores among middle-aged and elderly speakers may indicate physiological changes affecting oral-nasal balance in speech across the life span.

Normative Nasalance Scores for Brazilian Portuguese Using New Speech Stimuli.

OBJECTIVE: Normative data were established for newly developed speech materials for nasalance assessment in Brazilian Portuguese. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nasalance scores of preexisting passages (oral ZOO-BR, low-pressure oral ZOO-BR2 and NASAL-BR), new nasalance passages (oral Dudu no zoológico, oral Dudu no bosque, oral-nasal O cãozinho Totó and nasal O nenê) and Brasilcleft articulation screening sentences were collected from 245 speakers of Brazilian Portuguese, including 121 males and 124 females, divided into 4 groups: children (5-9 years), adolescents (10-19 years), young adults (20-24 years) and adults (25-35 years). RESULTS: Across all nasalance passages, adult females scored on average 2 percentage points higher than males. Children scored 2-4 percentage points lower than older groups for the preexisting nasalance passages ZOO-BR and ZOO-BR2. Nasalance scores for the new nasalance passages were not significantly different from the preexisting passages. Scores for high-pressure sentences did not differ significantly from the oral nasalance passage Dudu no bosque. CONCLUSION: The nasalance scores for the new nasalance passages were equivalent to the preexisting materials. The new shortened and simplified nasalance passages will be useful for assessing young children. Normative scores for the Brasilcleft high-pressure sentences were equivalent to the new oral passage Dudu no bosque.

Acoustic characteristics of healthy voices of adults: from young to middle age. / Características acústicas de vozes saudáveis de adultos: da idade jovem à meia-idade.

PURPOSE: Characterize voices of adult individuals without vocal complaints and verify the effect of gender and age with the use of acoustic measures. METHODS: One-hundred and seventy-six voice recordings belonging to adults between 19 and 59 years old, divided into four age groups, for decade, recorded in a database were analyzed. All voices analyzed were classified with no deviation in vocal quality. Acoustic analysis of the parameters was performed: Fundamental Frequency (sustained vowel and connected speech), Jitter, Shimmer and Noise-to-Harmonic Ratio through Multi Dimension Voice Program (KayPentax) software. The effect of gender, age and possible interactions were verified through the Factorial Anova test. When necessary, post hoc was performed with the Least Significant Difference test. RESULTS: There were changes in the voice as a function of age, with a decrease in the Fundamental Frequency in the vowel and connected speech modalities in women and in the Fundamental Frequency of the speech in men. In men, an increase in shimmer measure was observed with the advancing age. Differences between genders were found in the measures of Fundamental Frequency, Jitter and Noise to Harmonic Ratio. CONCLUSION: Vocal changes due to advancing age can be identified acoustically at the end of adulthood, and in women, these changes can be marked previously to the menopausal period.

Nasalance values for syllables produced by Brazilian Portuguese speakers. / Valores de nasalância para sílabas produzidas por falantes do Português Brasileiro.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to determine nasalance values for syllables produced by Brazilian Portuguese speakers of different ages and gender. METHODS: Nasalance scores were collected for 14 syllables (10 orals and 4 nasals) using Nasometer II 6400. The participants were 245 Brazilian Portuguese speakers (121 males and 124 females), both genders, divided into four age groups: 57 children, 61 adolescents, 65 young adults and 62 adults. RESULTS: Nasalance scores for nasal syllables were higher than for oral syllables. For both, oral and nasal syllables, nasalance scores were higher for vowel /i/ than for /a/. Across all syllables, the females' nasalance scores were higher than males, with most of this difference attributed to the oldest age group where females mean nasalance was three points higher than males. CONCLUSION: Values obtained demonstrated nasalance scores variation according to gender, particularly for the adult group and for the syllables tested.

Características acústicas de vozes saudáveis de adultos: da idade jovem à meia-idade / Acoustic characteristics of healthy voices of adults: from young to middle age

RESUMO Objetivo Caracterizar as vozes de indivíduos adultos sem queixas vocais e verificar o efeito de gênero e idade a partir de um conjunto de medidas acústicas. Método Foram analisadas 176 gravações de vozes pertencentes a adultos com idades entre 19 e 59 anos, divididas em quatro grupos etários, por década, armazenadas em uma base de dados. Todas as vozes analisadas foram classificadas com ausência de desvio na qualidade vocal. Realizou-se análise acústica dos parâmetros: Frequência Fundamental (vogal sustentada e fala encadeada), Jitter , Shimmer e Noise-to-Harmonic Ratio por meio software Multi Dimension Voice Program (KayPentax). O efeito de gênero, idade e possíveis interações foram verificados por meio do teste Anova Fatorial. Quando necessário, realizou-se post hoc com o teste Least Significant Difference. Resultados Houve mudanças na voz em função da idade, com diminuição da Frequência Fundamental nas modalidades vogal e fala encadeada em mulheres e na Frequência Fundamental da fala em homens. Em homens, foi observado aumento da medida de shimmer com o avanço da idade. Foram verificadas diferenças entre os gêneros nas medidas de Frequência Fundamental, Jitte r e Noise to Harmonic Ratio. Conclusão Mudanças vocais decorrentes do avanço da idade podem ser identificadas acusticamente, no final da fase adulta e, em mulheres, essas mudanças podem ser marcadas previamente ao período da menopausa.

ABSTRACT Purpose Characterize voices of adult individuals without vocal complaints and verify the effect of gender and age with the use of acoustic measures. Methods One-hundred and seventy-six voice recordings belonging to adults between 19 and 59 years old, divided into four age groups, for decade, recorded in a database were analyzed. All voices analyzed were classified with no deviation in vocal quality. Acoustic analysis of the parameters was performed: Fundamental Frequency (sustained vowel and connected speech), Jitter, Shimmer and Noise-to-Harmonic Ratio through Multi Dimension Voice Program (KayPentax) software. The effect of gender, age and possible interactions were verified through the Factorial Anova test. When necessary, post hoc was performed with the Least Significant Difference test. Results There were changes in the voice as a function of age, with a decrease in the Fundamental Frequency in the vowel and connected speech modalities in women and in the Fundamental Frequency of the speech in men. In men, an increase in shimmer measure was observed with the advancing age. Differences between genders were found in the measures of Fundamental Frequency, Jitter and Noise to Harmonic Ratio. Conclusion Vocal changes due to advancing age can be identified acoustically at the end of adulthood, and in women, these changes can be marked previously to the menopausal period.

Valores de nasalância para sílabas produzidas por falantes do Português Brasileiro / Nasalance values for syllables produced by Brazilian Portuguese speakers

RESUMO Objetivo o objetivo do estudo foi estabelecer valores de nasalância para sílabas produzidas por falantes do Português Brasileiro com diferentes idades e sexo. Métodos Participaram deste estudo 245 falantes do Português Brasileiro (121 do sexo masculino e 124 do sexo feminino), de ambos os sexos, divididos em quatro grupos de idade: 57 crianças, 61 adolescentes, 65 adultos jovens e 62 adultos. Valores de nasalância foram obtidos para um conjunto de 14 sílabas (dez orais e quatro nasais), utilizando o Nasômetro II 6400. Resultados Valores de nasalância mais altos foram encontrados para sílabas nasais quando comparadas às orais e para as sílabas constituídas pela vogal /i/ quando comparadas com a vogal /a/. Valores de nasalância mais altos foram obtidos para mulheres quando comparados aos dos homens e, particularmente, para os adultos. Conclusão Valores de nasalância das sílabas produzidas por falantes do Português Brasileiro demonstraram variação quanto às sílabas investigadas e também para variável sexo para falantes adultos.

ABSTRACT Purpose This study aimed to determine nasalance values for syllables produced by Brazilian Portuguese speakers of different ages and gender. Methods Nasalance scores were collected for 14 syllables (10 orals and 4 nasals) using Nasometer II 6400. The participants were 245 Brazilian Portuguese speakers (121 males and 124 females), both genders, divided into four age groups: 57 children, 61 adolescents, 65 young adults and 62 adults. Results Nasalance scores for nasal syllables were higher than for oral syllables. For both, oral and nasal syllables, nasalance scores were higher for vowel /i/ than for /a/. Across all syllables, the females’ nasalance scores were higher than males, with most of this difference attributed to the oldest age group where females mean nasalance was three points higher than males. Conclusion Values obtained demonstrated nasalance scores variation according to gender, particularly for the adult group and for the syllables tested.

Frequência e tipologia das disfluências: análise comparativa entre taquifêmicos e gagos / Frequency and typology of disfluencies: comparative analysis between clutterers and stutterers

OBJETIVO: quantificar e comparar as tipologias das disfluências da fala de adultos com taquifemia e adultos com gagueira desenvolvimental persistente. MÉTODO: participaram 15 adultos, divididos em dois grupos: Grupo de Pessoas com Taquifemia, composto por 5 adultos com taquifemia e Grupo de Pessoas com Gagueira, composto por 10 adultos com gagueira. Os procedimentos utilizados foram: avaliação da fluência, Inventário Preditivo de Taquifemia e Instrumento de Gravidade da Gagueira. RESULTADOS: os grupos apresentaram diferenças estatisticamente significantes para o total de disfluências comuns (p=0,021) e de disfluências gagas (p<0,001). Quanto à tipologia de disfluências comuns, interjeição, revisão e palavra não terminada apresentaram diferenças significantes. Todos os tipos de disfluencias gagas foram manifestados com maior ocorrência no grupo de gagueira, com diferença estatisticamente significante. CONCLUSÃO: o grupo de pessoas com taquifemia apresentou aumento da frequência de disfluencias comuns, enquanto que o grupo de pessoas com gagueira apresentou aumento na frequencia de disfluências gagas. As disfluências comuns foram variadas em ambos os grupos e taquifêmicos mostraram menos tipos de disfluências gagas em relação aos taquifêmicos.

PURPOSE: to quantify and to compare the typology of disfluencies in the speech of adults who clutter and adults with developmental persistent stuttering. METHOD: participants of this investigation were 15 adults, divided in two groups: Group of Adults Who Clutter, composed by 5 individuals and Group of Adults Who Stutter, composed by 10 subjects. The procedures used were: Assessment of Fluency, Predictive Cluttering Inventory and Stuttering Severity Instrument. RESULTS: the data indicated that the groups differed regarding the occurrence of other disfluencies (p=0,021) and stuttering-like disfluencies (p<0,001). The analysis for the types of other disfluencies revealed that there was statistically significant difference for the interjections, revision and unfinished word. The Group of Adults Who Stutter showed statistically significant increase of all the types of stuttering-like disfluencies. CONCLUSION: the group of adults who clutter showed increase of the occurrence of the other disfluencies, whereas the group of adults who stutter showed increase in the occurrence of the stuttering-like disfluencies. The other disfluencies were variable in both groups and those who clutter show less types of stuttering-like disfluencies when compared to those who stutter.