Abstract
The pursuit for quality of life urged a better understanding of aspects involved in ageing to minimize its consequences. Although many studies investigated older adults’ voice, aspects affecting this population voice-related quality of life have not yet been explored.ObjectiveTo investigate how aerodynamics and vocal aspects are associated with voice-related quality of life in older adults.Methodologyfifty-six older adults aged 60 years or above – 39 women and 17 men – were evaluated. The following procedures were performed: application of the Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL) protocol; vocal assessment, including auditory-perceptual and acoustic analysis, from which we obtained fundamental frequency (F 0 ), standard deviation of fundamental frequency (SDF 0 ), shimmer, amplitude perturbation quotient (APQ), jitter, pitch period perturbation quotient (PPQ), and harmonics to noise ratio (HNR); aerodynamic assessment using a spirometer; and maximum phonation time (MPT) for /a/, /s/, /z/ and number counting.Resultsolder adults tend to present high V-RQOL scores. Among women, roughness, APQ, and HNR parameters were negatively correlated with V-RQOL, whereas F 0 was positively. We found no correlation between spirometry measurements and V-RQOL. MPT for /a/, /z/, and number counting was positively correlated with V-RQOL solely among men.ConclusionVocal roughness and acoustic parameters have a negative impact on the quality of life of older women. Respiratory aspects related to the available air support for speaking affected the most the voice-related quality of life of older men.
Highlights
The process of aging, in general, demonstrates a large individual variation in the organic and functional decline[1] that may affect the quality of life of the elderly, a better understanding of the issues involved in this process is necessary in order to minimize its consequences.The quality of life depends on the interpretation and subjective perception that each individual makes of the facts and events relating to the events and conditions of their life.[2,3] It is necessary to develop strategies for knowing how the elderly perceive their own aging.Much like the quality of life, the impact of a specific health problem is difficult to measure
Emphasized that it is possible to verify that some older people had low scores on the protocol, which is compatible with dysphonia.[23]
Some authors have shown that the normal gradual process of vocal aging brings clear consequences in daily life that should be taken into account in clinical practice and in the communication of the social life of the elderly since voice disorders in this population are frequent and bring a negative impact in the quality of life and may interfere with the physical functioning with social and emotional limitations.[30-32]
Summary
The process of aging, in general, demonstrates a large individual variation in the organic and functional decline[1] that may affect the quality of life of the elderly, a better understanding of the issues involved in this process is necessary in order to minimize its consequences.The quality of life depends on the interpretation and subjective perception that each individual makes of the facts and events relating to the events and conditions of their life.[2,3] It is necessary to develop strategies for knowing how the elderly perceive their own aging.Much like the quality of life, the impact of a specific health problem is difficult to measure. The process of aging, in general, demonstrates a large individual variation in the organic and functional decline[1] that may affect the quality of life of the elderly, a better understanding of the issues involved in this process is necessary in order to minimize its consequences. The quality of life depends on the interpretation and subjective perception that each individual makes of the facts and events relating to the events and conditions of their life.[2,3] It is necessary to develop strategies for knowing how the elderly perceive their own aging. Much like the quality of life, the impact of a specific health problem is difficult to measure. Many researchers have been devoted to the development of instruments to measure dysphonia and its impact. According Romak, et al.[6] (2014), this protocol is more sensitive than VHI-10, when the goal is to identify the impact of voice on quality of life in the elderly
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