BackgroundObese people have abnormal deposition of fat in the vocal tract that can interfere with the acoustic voice.AimTo relate the fundamental frequency, the maximum phonation time and voice complaints from a group of morbidly obese women.MethodsObservational, cross-sectional and descriptive study that included 44 morbidly obese women, mean age of 42.45 (±10.31) years old, observational group and 30 women without obesity, control group, with 33.79 (±4.51)years old. The voice recording was done in a quiet environment, on a laptop using the program ANAGRAF acoustic analysis of speech sounds. To extract the values ​​of fundamental frequency the subjects were asked to produce vowel [a] at usual intensity for a period in average of three seconds. After the voice recording, participants were prompted to produce sustained vowel [ a] , [ i] and [ u] at usual intensity and height, using a stopwatch to measure the time that each participant could hold each vowel.ResultsThe majority, 31(70.5%), had vocal complaints, with a higher percentage for complaints of vocal fatigue 20(64.51%) and voice failures 19(61.29%) followed by dryness of the throat in 15 (48.38%) and effort to speak 13(41.93%). There was no statistically significant difference regarding the mean fundamental frequency of the voice in both groups, but there was significance between the two groups regarding maximum phonation.ConclusionIncreased adipose tissue in the vocal tract interfered in the vocal parameters.

Weight reduction and a consequent decrease in neck circumference affected the changes in maximum phonation time and fundamental frequency values in the voices of these patients, after weight loss.