During the premenstruation period dysphonia often can be observed and only few women are aware of this voice variation (Quinteiro, 1989). AIM: To verify if there are vocal quality variations between the ovulation period and the first day of the menstrual cycle, by using perceptual-auditory and acoustic analysis, including spectrography, and the self perception of the vocal changes when it occurs. STUDY DESIGN: Case-control. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We studied thirty speech and language pathology students with age ranging from 18 to 25 years, non smokers, with a regular menstrual cycle and who did not take contraceptive. The voices were recorded on the first day of menstruation and on the thirteenth day postmenstruation (ovulation period), for comparison. RESULTS: In the first day of menstruation it was observed: hoarseness and breathiness from light to moderate, vocal instability, voicing interruption, normal pitch and loudness and adequate resonance; worse quality of the harmonics definition, increased amount of noise between them and lower length of superior harmonics. A higher fundamental frequency, higher values of Jitter and Shimmer and a lower harmonic-to-noise ratio was also observed. CONCLUSION: During the menstrual cycle there are changes in the vocal quality, in the harmonic behavior and in the vocal parameters (f0, Jitter, Shimmer and harmonic-to-noise ratio). However, the majority of the students were unaware of the vocal variation during menstruation.
voice; voice disorders; vocal quality; menstrual cycle
