Female voice age classification based on acoustic characteristics of speech.

The purpose of this article is to update the management of the treatment of the female voice at perimenopause and menopause. Voice and hormones—these are 2 words that clash, meet, and harmonize. If we are to solve this inquiry, we shall inevitably have to understand the hormones, their impact, and the scars of time. The endocrine effects on laryngeal structures are numerous: The actions of estrogens and progesterone produce modification of glandular secretions. Low dose of androgens are secreted principally by the adrenal cortex, but they are also secreted by the ovaries. Their effect may increase the low pitch and decease the high pitch of the voice at menopause due to important diminution of estrogens and the privation of progesterone. The menopausal voice syndrome presents clinical signs, which we will describe. I consider menopausal patients to fit into 2 broad types: the “Modigliani” types, rather thin and slender with little adipose tissue, and the “Rubens” types, with a rounded figure with more fat cells. Androgen derivatives are transformed to estrogens in fat cells. Hormonal replacement therapy should be carefully considered in the context of premenopausal symptom severity as alternative medicine. Hippocrates: “Your diet is your first medicine.”

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Prosodic Impairment Associated With Traumatic Brain Injury

Perspectives on Neurophysiology and Neurogenic Speech and Language Disorders ◽

10.1044/nnsld19.3.97 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 19 (3) ◽

pp. 97-102

Author(s):

Billy Irwin

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Detailed Analysis ◽

Acoustic Characteristics ◽

Individual Variations

Abstract Purpose: This article discusses impaired prosody production subsequent to traumatic brain injury (TBI). Prosody may affect naturalness and intelligibility of speech significantly, often for the long term, and TBI may result in a variety of impairments. Method: Intonation, rate, and stress production are discussed in terms of the perceptual, physiological, and acoustic characteristics associated with TBI. Results and Conclusions: All aspects of prosodic production are susceptible to the effects of damage resulting from TBI. There are commonly associated prosodic impairments; however, individual variations in specific aspects of prosody require detailed analysis.

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Age-Related Decline in Emotional Prosody Discrimination

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000241 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 61 (3) ◽

pp. 215-223 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Rachel L. C. Mitchell ◽

Rachel A. Kingston

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Auditory Perception ◽

Duration Discrimination ◽

Pitch Perception ◽

Sensory Level ◽

Emotional Prosody ◽

Processing Stage ◽

Acoustic Characteristics ◽

Age Related ◽

Level Of Processing

It is now accepted that older adults have difficulty recognizing prosodic emotion cues, but it is not clear at what processing stage this ability breaks down. We manipulated the acoustic characteristics of tones in pitch, amplitude, and duration discrimination tasks to assess whether impaired basic auditory perception coexisted with our previously demonstrated age-related prosodic emotion perception impairment. It was found that pitch perception was particularly impaired in older adults, and that it displayed the strongest correlation with prosodic emotion discrimination. We conclude that an important cause of age-related impairment in prosodic emotion comprehension exists at the fundamental sensory level of processing.

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