[Augustine23542]

I have noticed that many elderly people have hoarse, high-pitched or ‘screechy’ voices. But if I have known someone all my life (40 years), I do not notice that their voice has changed in any perceptible way. Aside from illness or general weakening of the body, does voice tone change with age? If this means anything, I have noticed that people in isolated environments, regardless of age, have ‘relic’ ways of speaking, as though their speech is ‘fossilized’ from the time of the earliest settlers in that area. Could the speech of some elderly people sound peculiar because they are merely speaking the way they always have, not necessarily because their speech has changed with age?

User Detail :  

Name : Augustine23542, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 40, City : Columbia, State : SC, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Jane20939]

I heard an expert on this very subject this morning on NPR. He said that the current theory is that the hoarseness, deepening or other changes to the voice which we associate with aging are in fact simply the result of repeated trauma to the vocal chords; in other words using them. Smoking exacerbates this condition. So presumably, if you are a 90 year old smoker who doesn’t talk much and never shouts or sings really loud, then you just might sound the same as when you were 25.

User Detail :  

Name : Jane20939, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 41, City : Dallas, State : TX, Country : United States, Occupation : pastry chef, Education level : 4 Years of College, 

[Author]

Posts