PURPOSE: To compare the voices of elderly subjects, teachers and non-teachers, and to verify the relationship between their voices and the variables chronological age and period of time practicing physical activity. METHODS: It was carried out the perceptive-auditory analysis of the vocal parameters of 47 subjects, male and female, who were older than 65 years. Twenty three subjects were teachers (GT) and 24 were non-teachers (GNT). The results of this analysis were tested for statistical correlation with the variables chronological age and amount of physical activity practice (in time). RESULTS: In the GT, there was a significant negative correlation between chronological age and loudness variation (p=0,042). In the GNT it was found significant negative correlations between chronological age and speech rate (p=0,038) and between period of physical activity practice and voice quality deviations (p=0,031). CONCLUSIONS: There were no statistical differences among the vocal parameters of both groups. For the GP, it was observed that the higher the chronological age, the lesser the loudness variation. For the GNP, the higher the chronological age, the lesser the speech rate. A longer period of physical activity practice was correlated to a voice with lesser quality deviations, only for the GNP.
Aging; Voice; Aged; Faculty; Motor activity; Exercise; Health of the elderly
