Mean of the fundamental frequency, of the formants and the maximum phonation time in a group of schoolchildren.

MEAN OF THE FUNDAMENTAL FREQUENCY, FORMANTS AND MAXIMUM PHONATION TIME IN A GROUP OF SCHOOLCHILDREN

Abstract

Objective: In view of the clinical value that the acoustic evaluation measures provide, of the few studies in the literature that standardize voice / speech characteristics of children without vocal complaints, we aimed to determine the average of the fundamental frequency, of the formants and maximum phonation time in a group of schoolchildren. Methods: We selected 35 girls and 28 boys, in the age group of 8 to 12 years elementary and middle school students from a school in Natal. The voice recording protocol was performed by issuing sustained vowels and issuing the sentence: I say / a /, / ɛ /, / i /, / ͻ /, / u /, I say. The acoustic analysis of PRAAT speech sounds was used for recording and analyzing the parameters. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in relation to the mean of f0 and TMF. As for the frequency of the formants, the results showed statistically significant differences between the sexes in most of the parameters except in the values of F3 [a], F1 [u], F2 [u] and F3 [u]. Conclusion: The measures of maximum phonation time and f0, in relation to sex, were not different. While the formants of the vowels [a] and [i] demonstrated that different motor adjustments occurred between the sexes. Keywords: child; Voice; phonation; acoustics