Vocal jitter and fundamental frequency characteristics in aged, female professional singers

Abstract

Summary Twenty-five aged singers in good health produced the vowel / a / at a comfortable loudness level and read the first paragraph of the rainbow Measures of vocal jitter ratio (JR) were calculated from the vowel productions; measures of average speaking fundamental frequency (SFF), SFF standard deviation, and reading time were calculated from the reading passage. These measures were compared to those of a group of aged nonsingers and young adults. Differences in JR values among the three groups were found to be nonsignificant, whereas SFF, SFF standard deviation, and oral reading time were all found to differ significantly among the three groups; the aged singer and young adult groups exhibited higher SFF values when compared to the aged nonsingers, and the two aged groups exhibited significantly higher SFF standard deviation and slower oral reading time values when compared to the younger group.