The human vocal folds are organized in layers, the epithelial layer, three layers of the lamina propria, and the vocalis muscle. Each layer of the lamina propria contains different amounts and forms of elastin, and it has been suggested that an alteration in the elasticity of the vocal folds may cause dysnychronous vibration. The elastin gene (ELN) acts as the instruction manual for the cellular production of elastic fibers throughout the body, including those within the vocal folds. It has been found that individuals with Williams Syndrome (WS) and individuals with Supravalvular Aortic Stenosis (SVAS) have irregularities in ELN. The purpose of this study was to examine the acoustic voice quality of individuals with WS compared to normal controls so that a better understanding of the phenotypic differences, with respect to vocal production, between WS and the general population can be attained.
In this study, 16 individuals with WS (8 male, 8 female) and 16 normal controls produced sustained vowels to which acoustic measures were applied. Acoustic measurements included fundamental frequency (Fo), jitter, shimmer, and noise-to-harmonic ratio. The results indicated that individuals with WS did not manifest significantly different acoustic measures of voice quality compared to normal controls. With regard to gender effects, the male participants as a whole were found to have a lower Fo than the female participants and the female participants were found to have a higher percentage of jitter than the males, irrespective of group. These results will be discussed in context with previous studies that have focused on disorders affecting ELN and the effects on voice production abilities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TCU/oai:etd.tcu.edu:etd-05012009-123742 |
| Date | 01 May 2009 |
| Creators | Kutac, Sara Elaine |
| Contributors | Chris Watts |
| Publisher | Texas Christian University |
| Source Sets | Texas Christian University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf, application/msword |
| Source | http://etd.tcu.edu/etdfiles/available/etd-05012009-123742/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to TCU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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