Date of Award

1983

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Abstract

The present study explored the relationships between fundamental frequency means and range extents for black adults in three decade intervals from 50-79 years of age during two speaking tasks. One hundred thirty-three males and 144 females participated in a spontaneous speaking task. Only 28 males and 65 females were able to participate in the reading activity. The results of the reading central tendencies for males suggested that the mean fundamental frequency increases with age for each decade interval (107.14 Hz, 111.00 Hz, and 129.09 Hz, respectively). The males in the 50- and 60-year decades had significantly lower means than the 70-year decade group. The mean reading ranges were 80.71 - 157.14 Hz, 76.50 - 185.50 Hz and 89.54 - 178.63 Hz for the three decade groups, respectively. The range of the 60-year decade group was significantly wider than that of the 50-year decade group. No other significant differences in reading ranges for males were found. Results of the mean speaking fundamental frequency values for males for each of the decade groups (118.13 Hz, 113.33 Hz, and 116.33 Hz, respectively) indicated no significant differences between the means. There was no significant difference in the mean speaking ranges of 74.76 - 216.51 Hz, 76.44 - 209.11 Hz and 72.44 - 217.44 Hz for the three decade groups, respectively. For females, the mean reading fundamental vocal frequencies decreased across the three respective decades (170.43 Hz, 165.00 Hz, and 155.35 Hz). However, these differences in the means were not statistically significant. Also, there were no significant differences in the mean reading ranges of 118.26 - 258.04 Hz, 107.67 - 252.67 Hz and 103.57 - 262.14 Hz for the three decade groups, respectively. The female mean speaking fundamental frequency values systematically decreased with advancing age (168.22 Hz, 163.26 Hz, and 150.46 Hz, respectively). The differences in these mean values were not statistically significant. There was no significant difference in the mean reading ranges 98.64 - 297.50 Hz, 95.00 - 305.30 Hz and 82.23 - 290.31 Hz for the three decade groups, respectively. Reading and speaking values were compared in this investigation. In addition, results for the present study were compared to past research. Clinical implications and future research needs were also discussed.

Pages

160

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_disstheses.3845

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