Prevalence of Voice Disorders and Characteristics of Korean Voice Handicap Index in the Elderly

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of voice disorders and the Korean voice handicap index in the elderly. For this study, 169 elderly performed two types of questionnaires and vowel /a/ prolongation. Self-reported voice symptoms and the Korean voice handicap index were analyzed and acoustic voice evaluation was performed by MDVP. The results showed that the prevalence of voice disorders in the elderly are significantly higher than that of adults in self-reports. In acoustic evaluation, 32.2% of the male elderly and 40.9% of the female elderly exceeded the thresholds of Jitter (%), Shimmer (%) and NHR. In addition, Korean voice handicap index scores of the female elderly are significantly higher than those of female adults. These findings indicate the high frequency of voice disorders in the elderly and the need to focus on this group. Additional studies on the voice related quality of life for the elderly are needed.

Feature Extraction of Elderly Signals based on Bicoherence Estimation for Automated Medical Diagnosis System

“…Speech interface is currently using an optimized method based on the average speech pattern of all aged people [2]- [3][11]- [12]. If it is a little larger deviation from an average value, it may have an effect on the performance degradation of voice analysis and recognition [14]- [15].…”

“…Many studies related to elderly signals have been based on the acoustic analysis of the voice samples including jitter and shimmer [3]- [4][6]- [8]. However, since these parameters are based on the fundamental frequency, a very reliable pitch extraction is necessary to measure voicing irregularities in elderly signals [12].…”

Individual Therapeutic Singing Program for Vocal Quality and Depression in Parkinson’s Disease

“…Higher scores represent higher degrees of patient-perceived vocal handicap. Previous VHI research in normal Korean adults between the ages of 65–82 reported an average score of 12.0 ± 16.3 for men and 11.7 ± 16.5 for women [ 2 , 24 ].…”

“…Higher scores represent lower degrees of patient-perceived vocal problems [ 2 ]. Previous V-RQOL research in patients with PD between 55–70 years of age reported an average score of 59.1 ± 20.2 [ 2 , 24 ].…”

A comparison of the perceptual-auditory voice quality evaluation (GRBAS) and voice-related quality of life (K-VRQOL) according to choir type of elderly women choir members*

“…인간의 목소리는 약 65세 이후에 정상적인 생리적 노화와 관련된 변화를 겪는다 (Tay et al, 2012). 노인성 음성은 일반적으로 목 쉰 소리, 바람 새 는 소리, 음성 떨림, 가늘고 약한 음성 등의 특징을 보인다 (Kim, 2010;Gregory et al, 2012;Song, 2012). 노인음성의 특성은 성별 에 따라서도 차이를 보인다 (Hong & Kim, 2016).…”