The intent of this study is to attempt to create new scientific criteria for the evaluation of choral literature for senescent singers, The first criterion developed for selection of age-appropriate choral literature was a measurement for voice quality registration called phonetography. Phonetography is the registration of the dynamic range of a voice as a function of fundamental frequency. Manual phonetograms on twenty young adult singers and twenty senescent singers were developed to determine individual frequency-by-intensity relationships of the senescent voice. The graph that was created when all points of minimum and maximum sound pressure levels are connected, thus enclosing the subject's total phonation area, was the singer's phonetogram. Three choral adjudicators were present at the phonetogram testing to determine which pitch levels and dynamic ranges were acceptable for healthy choral singing in each subject. Gelfer acoustic-perceptual rating scales were completed by the choral adjudicators on each phonetogram test subject. Adjectives utilized most frequently by speech pathologists, singers, otolaryngologists, and untrained listeners were codified and confidence ratings were made by each of the four groups who were polled. Appropriate opposites for the selected descriptors were chosen. The Gelfer test results were consistent with phonetogram findings. Criteria for age-appropriate choral literature were proposed from phonetogram data and the Gelfer acoustic-perceptual analyses. The four pieces which were selected as age-appropriate were analyzed by tessiturometry as a final criteria of suitability for aging singers. The tessiturogram is a graphic analysis of the frequency of note occurrence within a composition. Lower tessituras and limited ranges were recommended for aging singers. Choral selections with long phrases, rapid melismatic passages, wide unprepared leaps, and sustained singing should be avoided. High, soft singing for older female singers is not suggested. Rhythmic, homophonic works are recommended for successful performance. Instrumental accompaniments are beneficial in reinforcing the older singers' intonation.

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Orientadora: Viviane Cristina de Castro Marino / Banca: Célia Maria Giacheti / Banca: Alcione Ghedini Brasolotto / Resumo: Introdução: Mudanças vocais ocorrem nos diferentes ciclos da vida podendo ser refletidas em medidas acústicas. Objetivo: investigar características da produção vocal de falantes do português brasileiro (PB) nos diferentes ciclos da vida a partir de um conjunto de medidas acústicas. Método: Foram incluídas 526 gravações de falantes do PB com idades entre 5 e 93 anos. As vozes desses falantes foram julgadas com qualidade vocal adequada para a idade por meio do parâmetro G da escala GRBAS. As gravações foram divididas em 12 grupos etários (5 a 7 anos; 8 a 9; 10 a 11; 12; 13 a 15; 16 a 18; 19 a 29; 30 a 39; 40 a 49; 50 a 59; 60 a 69 e 70 a 93 anos). Foi realizada análise acústica, extraindo os parâmetros: Frequência Fundamental (F0), jitter, shimmer e Noise-to-Harmonic Ratio (NHR) por meio do software Multi Dimensional Voice Program. O teste Two-Way ANOVA foi utilizado para investigar possíveis diferenças entre os grupos etários seguido do teste post-hoc Sidak para cada sexo separadamente. Para comparação entre os sexos dentro de cada faixa etária foi realizado o teste t student para amostras independentes. Resultados: Houve diminuição gradativa da F0 da infância à terceira idade para as mulheres. Idosas (60-93 anos) apresentaram F0 mais baixa do que os grupos etários com idades até 19 a 29 anos (p<0,00). Nos homens houve diminuição de F0 até a idade de 13 a 15 anos (p<0,00) e, depois, a mesma manteve-se estável. Diferenças entre os sexos ocorreram a partir da idade de 12 anos, c... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Introduction: Vocal changes occur in life span and can be reflected in acoustic measurements. Objective: To investigate changes in acoustics measurements across life span in Brazilian Portuguese speakers. Methods: Voice samples of 526 Brazilian Portuguese speakers with age ranging from five to 93 years were analyzed. They had their voice judged with absence of dysphonia by three Speech-Language-Pathologists using the G parameter of the GRBAS scale. The recordings were distributed into 12 age groups (5-7 years, 8- 9; 10-11; 12; 13-15; 16-18; 19-29; 30-39; 40-49; 50-59; 60-69 and 70-93 years) for acoustic analysis. Fundamental frequency (F0), jitter, shimmer and Noise-to-Harmonic Ratio (NHR) were extracted using the computerized Multi Dimensional Voice Program (MDVP). The Two-Way ANOVA test was used to investigate differences for all age groups followed by Post hoc Sidak to evaluate measures in each gender separately. F0, jitter, shimmer and NHR for both genders in each age group was compared using t test. Results: F0 decreased from childhood to the elderly for females. Elderly female voices showed lower F0 than age groups up to 19-29 years (p<0.00). In males, F0 decreased until group aged from 13 to 15 years (p <0.00) and then it remained stable. Significant F0 differences between boys and girls began at the age of 12 years (p<0,00), with higher F0 for girls than boys. Jitter was higher in childhood than elderly for females (p≤0.02). A decrease in jitter was observed for 70 to... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo verificar se o tempo de execução do exercício de vibração sonorizada de língua interfere nas respostas perceptivoauditivas e acústicas da voz em mulheres com nódulos vocais. Além disso, se propôs identificar em qual momento há predomínio de respostas vocais positivas e negativas ao longo de sete minutos de execução deste exercício. Para tanto, participaram da pesquisa 27 mulheres, com idade entre 18 e 45 anos, disfônicas, com nódulos de pregas vocais. Todos os sujeitos da pesquisa foram incluídos no Grupo Experimental (GE), o qual realizou o Exercício de Vibração Sonorizada de Língua (EVSL) e apenas dez deles participaram também do Grupo-Controle (GC), onde foi feito o exercício placebo. Ambos foram realizados por sete minutos. As vozes foram registradas antes e após o primeiro, terceiro, quinto e sétimo minutos de execução dos exercícios e analisadas perceptivo- auditiva e acusticamente. Na análise perceptivo-auditiva, elas foram estudadas individualmente por meio do Protocolo CAPEV e aos pares, de forma comparativa, com a identificação da melhor voz para cada par examinado. Na análise acústica, utilizou-se o software VoxMetria versão 2.7h da CTS Informática na função Qualidade Vocal. Foram considerados os valores de frequência fundamental, jitter, shimmer, Glottal to Noise Excitation (GNE), irregularidade e ruído. De acordo com os resultados do CAPEV, o Exercício de Vibração Sonorizada de Língua (EVSL) provocou mudanças estatisticamente significantes em sete dos nove parâmetros investigados. A aplicação do teste estatístico ANOVA mostrou que no momento 5 (após o quinto minuto de execução do EVSL), a voz apresentou-se com melhor grau geral (p = 0,0004), menor rugosidade (p = 0,007), menor soprosidade (p < 0,001) e pitch agudo (p < 0,001). Porém, no momento 7 (após o sétimo minuto), a tensão apresentou-se significativamente mais alta (p = 0,016) em comparação a todos os outros momentos. Na análise pareada, houve prevalência de melhora vocal no pós-exercício em todos os momentos, com exceção do 7°. Não houve diferença estatisticamente significante entre os momentos 1 e 3. As vozes no momento 5 foram consideradas melhores do que nos momentos 3 (p = 0,013) e 7 (p = 0,013) no Grupo Experimental. Na análise acústica do grupo experimental houve aumento gradativo da frequência fundamental (p = 0,0030) e do GNE (p = 0,0011) após o terceiro minuto e diminuição do ruído (p = 0,0013) a partir do primeiro. Tanto na análise perceptivo-auditiva quanto na acústica, os resultados do Grupo Experimental foram superiores aos encontrados no Grupo-Controle no que diz respeito às melhoras vocais. Os resultados da presente pesquisa demonstram que o tempo de realização do EVSL interfere nas respostas vocais em mulheres disfônicas, sendo que no momento 5 há predomínio de respostas positivas em comparação aos momentos 1, 3 e 7. No 7, há aumento de tensão vocal e queda no desempenho do exercício. / The aim of this study was to assess whether tongue trills trill performance time interferes in the auditory perception and acoustic in women with vocal nodules. Furthermore, it was intended to identify at which moment during the 7-minute performance time the positive and negative responses predominate. This study comprised twenty-seven dysphonic women, who have vocal nodules, ranging from 18 to 45 years old. All subjects of this study were included in the experiment group which underwent tongue trills; only ten of these were also in the control group which underwent the placebo exercise. Both groups carried out the 7- minute performance time. The voices were recorded pre and post experimental and placebo exercises at the first, third, fifth and seventh minute of performance and auditory perception and acoustic were analyzed. In the auditory perception analysis the voices were analyzed individually according to the CAPEV protocol and in pairs, by comparison, to identify the better voice of the pair. The Voxmetria® program, version 2.7h by CTS Informática, was used to assess the vocal quality function. Fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, GNE, irregularity and noise were considered. According to the CAPEV results, the tongue trills caused statistically significant changes in seven out of the nine parameters analyzed. The use of the ANOVA analysis of variance showed that at moment 5 (after the fifth minute of experiment exercise) the voice presented the best overall rating, the least roughness, the least breathiness and high pitch. However, at moment 7 (after the seventh minute) the tension was significantly higher than at any other moment. In the paired comparison analysis, there was predominance of improved vocal in the post tongue trills at all moments, except the 7th. There was no statistically significant difference between moments 1 and 3. The voices at moment 5 were considered better that those at moment 3 and at moment 7 in the experiment group. In acoustic analysis of the experiment group there was gradual increase in the fundamental frequency and in the GNE after the 3rd minute and a decrease in noise as of the 1st minute. In the auditory perception analysis as well as in the acoustic analysis, the ratings for the experiment group were higher than those of the control group in relation to vocal improvement. The results of this study show the tongue trill performance time interferes in the vocal response of dysphonic women with positive response predominance at moment 5 compared to moments 1, 3 and 7. At moment 7 there is an increase of vocal tension and a drop in performance during tongue trills.

Dentre as inúmeras técnicas de conversão de voz utilizadas atualmente, aquelas baseadas em bancos de filtros wavelet, associadas com redes neurais artificiais,têm se destacado. Este trabalho se concentra em tais técnicas, realizando um estudo que relaciona qual a melhor wavelet para conversão de determinados padrões de voz, apresentando uma análise detalhada de quais são as características que levam a estes resultados. Os testes são realizados com vozes da base de dados TIMIT do Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC). / Dentre as inúmeras técnicas de conversão de voz utilizadas atualmente, aquelas baseadas em bancos de filtros wavelet, associadas com redes neurais artificiais, têm se destacado. Este trabalho se concentra em tais técnicas, realizando um estudo que relaciona qual a melhor wavelet para conversão de determinados padrões de voz, apresentando uma análise detalhada de quais são as características que levam a estes resultados. Os testes são realizados com vozes da base de dados TIMIT do Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC).

Acoustical analyses have been utilized to ascertain the functional status of the laryngeal mechanism for clinical management of communication disorders (Gilbert and Weismer, 1974). In particular, the modal frequency level (MFL), defined as the fundamental frequency most often used by an individual in the act of spontaneous speech (Travis, 1971), is one measurement used to determine if a person's pitch level is adequate. Two other pitch measurements used in the voice assessment are the maximum frequency range (MFR) and the optimum pitch level (OPL). Information is needed to provide guidelines for pitch levels as part of the voice evaluation for adult females of different ages. It is not clear from the literature if there is a statistically significant MFL difference between White female nonsmokers and cigarette smokers as determined by different phonatory tasks. The purpose of this investigation was to compare the MFLs of nonsmoking and cigarette smoking White females between the ages of forty and fifty years. The primary research question was: Does smoking significantly affect the modal frequency level of forty to fifty year old White females as compared with forty to fifty year old White females who do not smoke?