To date, studies of the aged voice have focused overwhelmingly on European-American elderly speakers. Studies of the aged African-American voice are extremely limited. This situation is problematic for voice professionals, since racial/ethnic minorities comprise an increasingly large segment of the U.S. population and are likely to require treatment for voice quality disorders in greater numbers as the century progresses. In addition to racial differences, there are recognized cultural differences between African-Americans and European-Americans that affect the life experiences of the two groups. Sociocultural variables such as acculturation level, usage patterns of Black English, and socioeconomic status may impact any normative data obtained on the African-American voice and must be considered. This research project has three purposes. The primary purpose is to explore the effect of acculturation on speech and voice production in both young adult and elderly African-American speakers. In addition: (1) normative data will be obtained on the elderly African-American voice, controlling for variations in sociocultural background, physiological condition, and dialect usage; and (2) relationships will be assessed among selected acoustic measures of African-American speech/voice and measures of sociocultural status, physiological condition, dialect usage, and vocal performance. A sample of 128 young and elderly African- American men and women in two groups (high acculturation, low acculturation) will participate. Spoken sentences will be analyzed for mean F0, FS0D, F0 range (in semitones), consonant/vowel durations, stop closure interval, VOT, voiceless interval, and spirantization. Sustained vowel productions (/i/,/a/) will be analyzed for F0, F0SD, % jitter, % shimmer, pitch perturbation quotient, amplitude perturbation quotient, F1, F2, F3, and harmonics-to-noise ratio. Results will facilitate future comparisons of elderly African American and European American speakers who are matched on a variety of sociocultural measures. ? ?
