The normative study of acoustic and aerodynamic characteristics of voice among healty adult Turkish speakers

This study aims to establish adult normative data set for healthy Turkish speakers on the acoustic and aerodynamic characteristics of voice, using Phonatory Aerodynamic System (PAS), and to examine the effects of age and gender on these measures. The study design is prospective data collection across groups. The participants of the study included 206 healthy adults (106 females, 100 males) between the ages of 18-87, and were divided into 3 age groups (18-39, 40-59, 60+). Among the PAS protocols, vital capacity, maximum sustained phonation, comfortable sustained phonation, variation in SPL, voicing efficiency were conducted to the participants. 3 trials were taken for each protocol, and resulting data was averaged. Statistical analysis was conducted for 45 phonatory aerodynamic and acoustic measures, and normative data was obtained. The results of the study indicated that statistically significant main effect of gender was found for 30 measures (e.g. maximum SPL, peak expiratory airflow duration), and statistically significant main effect of age for 19 measures (maximum SPL, expiratory volume) and significant main effect of gender*age interaction for 6 measures (mean pitch, minimum SPL) while, remaining 10 measures did not relieve statistically significant results. Consequently, current study found statistically significant effect of age and gender on 35 phonatory and aerodynamic measures. So, it is true to say that one must account for age and gender variables in the evaluation of voice using PAS.