Purpose: to verify, with the auditory-perceptual and acoustic parameters, the occurrence of voice changes in children with no voice complaints, per sex. Methods: the registers of 36 children with no voice complaints, aged 6 to 8 years, of whom 19 were males, were assessed. The databank consisted of the recordings of sustained vowels, sentences, and spontaneous speech. The auditory-perceptual analysis was conducted with the Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice, and the acoustic analysis, with VoxMetria. The fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, noise, and glottal-to-noise excitation ratio were analyzed. The Mann-Whitney test was applied for numerical variables, and the McNemar test, for the categorical ones, at the p < 0.05 significance level. Results: of the 5 children with mild voice changes, 4 were males. The most frequent resonance deviation was the laryngopharyngeal one. There was no difference between the sexes in the auditory-perceptual findings. The fundamental frequency in the group with changes was lower than that in the group without changes. There was a statistical association between the changes in the auditory-perceptual assessment and the acoustic parameters. Conclusion: voice changes occurred in 13.89% of the studied sample of children with no voice complaints, without differences between the sexes in the auditory-perceptual parameters. Vocal deviations were in a mild degree in all children who had them, the most frequent ones being roughness and breathiness. The fundamental frequency and shimmer were the acoustic parameters whose values most often occurred outside the reference limits, in both genders.

Purpose: to assess the self-reported voice-related quality of life of schoolchildren without voice complaints and correlate it to acoustic parameters of voice. Methods: the research population comprised 31 children, mean age 6.5 (±0.17) years. The children’s perception of their voice-related quality of life was verified with the Pediatric Voice-Related Quality of Life Survey, which has 10 closed-ended questions and three domains. The acoustic parameters assessed were fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, glottal-to-noise excitation ratio, and noise rate, besides the phonatory deviation diagram, based on the analysis of the emission of the sustained vowel /ɛ/ for 5 seconds. Results: all the children obtained scores close to 100% in the three domains of the Pediatric Voice-Related Quality of Life Survey. As for the acoustic parameters, most of them presented abnormal values in the phonatory deviation diagram and in shimmer. There was a difference between girls and boys only in fundamental frequency. Conclusion: the pediatric self-reported voice-related quality of life of the children studied had a positive impact, despite the acoustic changes found in the voices. There was no correlation between the pediatric voice-related quality of life and the acoustic parameters in voice in the group studied.

Purpose To describe the main quantitative methods used for morphometric analysis of the vocal tract in singers, their applications and the main segments studied. Research strategy This is an integrative review guided by the guiding question “What are the main quantitative methods used for morphometric analysis of the vocal tract, their applications and the main segments studied in singers?”. The electronic databases PubMed, Scopus and VHL were used through the search key (Vocal tract OR Oropharynx) AND (Morphology OR Geometry) AND (Evaluation OR Diagnosis) AND (voice), without restriction of years of publication, including articles in three languages: Portuguese, English and Spanish. Selection criteria The selection took place independently through reading by pairs and subsequent application of exclusion and inclusion criteria. Results Of the 380 studies, 30 duplicates were excluded. After reading the abstracts, applying the selection criteria, 18 studies were selected for full reading, of which 12 were included in this review. Magnetic resonance imaging was the main instrument used and the analyzed segments ranged from the length and volume of the vocal tract to isolated segments and their morphological particularities. Conclusion Vocal tract morphological quantification methods are important for the instrumental evaluation of the vocal tract and its segments, a technological update leading to better understanding of singers’ voice and therapeutical intervention.

RESUMO Objetivo descrever os principais métodos quantitativos utilizados para análise morfométrica do trato vocal em cantores, suas aplicações e os principais segmentos estudados. Estratégia de pesquisa trata-se de uma revisão integrativa guiada pela pergunta condutora: “Quais os principais métodos quantitativos utilizados para análise morfométrica do trato vocal, suas aplicações e os principais segmentos estudados em cantores?”. Foram utilizadas as bases eletrônicas PubMed, Scopus e BVS, por meio da chave de busca Vocal tract OR Oropharynx AND Morphology OR Geometry AND Evaluation OR Diagnosis AND voice, sem restrições de ano de publicação, sendo incluídos artigos em três idiomas: português, inglês e espanhol. Critérios de seleção: a seleção se deu de forma independente, por meio da leitura por pares e posterior aplicação dos critérios de exclusão e inclusão. Resultados dos 380 estudos, foram excluídos 30 duplicados. A partir da leitura dos resumos, aplicando-se os critérios de seleção, foram selecionados 18 estudos para leitura na íntegra, dos quais, 12 foram incluídos nesta revisão. A ressonância magnética foi o principal instrumento utilizado e os segmentos analisados incluíram desde o comprimento e volume do trato vocal, como segmentos isolados e suas particularidades morfológicas. Conclusão os métodos de quantificação morfológica do trato vocal integram instrumentos importantes para a avaliação instrumental do trato vocal e de seus segmentos, colaborando na atualização tecnológica em voz para melhor compreensão e intervenções fonoaudiológicas na voz cantada

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