Ålderns påverkan på Acoustic Voice Quality Index i svensk kontext

Sammanfattning

Summary Background Most people use their voice as a communicative tool to convey information, emotional states, and identity. The voice can be negatively affected by several factors such as vocally demanding occupations, stress, and aging. The Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) is an acoustic measure used to quantify the degree of dysphonia. Over the years, AVQI has been developed and validated in several languages, but further research is needed to establish normative data for AVQI in a Swedish context. Aim The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of age on AVQI in vocally healthy Swedish-speaking individuals and to compare two current versions of AVQI. Method The study included 120 vocally healthy Swedish-speaking adults aged 20–90+. Participants’ voices were recorded using different speech tasks, including sustained vowels, read speech, and spontaneous speech. Utterances and sustained vowels were then segmented in the program Visible Speech to ensure that only relevant sequences were used for AVQI calculation. Two AVQI versions were used to assess voice quality: v02.03 and v03.01. The analysis focused on examining the effect of age on AVQI values and comparing the results between the two AVQI versions. Results Overall, the results showed weak associations between age and AVQI. However, in read speech among men in AVQI v03.01, a modest age effect was observed. Analysis of the individual acoustic parameters revealed that age had a weak but significant effect on LTAS measures. Greater variability was seen in the oldest age group, resulting in wider confidence intervals, which makes it more difficult to detect significant age effects. Conclusion No clear age effects on AVQI were observed, although some acoustic sub‑measures showed weak age‑related changes. Variability in the oldest group and differences between the two AVQI versions may have made it more difficult to demonstrate statistically significant age effects. Future studies should specify participants’ language background to strengthen generalizability.