Harmonics-to-Noise Ratio: An Index of Vocal Aging

Distinguishing between vocal changes that occur with normal aging and those that are associated with disease is an important goal of research in voice. Several acoustic measures have been used in an attempt to illuminate the integrity of the vocal mechanism, including harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR), jitter, and fundamental frequency (F₀). HNR is a measure that quantifies the amount of additive noise in the voice signal; jitter reflects the periodicity of vocal fold vibration. In this study, measures of HNR, jitter and F₀ were used to compare vocal function in three groups of normally speaking women: young adults, middle-aged adults, and elderly adults. Significant differences in HNR emerged between the elderly women and the other two groups. F₀ differences were also apparent between the elderly group and the two younger groups; there were no significant differences in jitter between the three groups. HNR was found to be a more sensitive index of vocal function than jitter. The significant lowering of HNR evident in the elderly speakers may be attributable in part to medications taken by the majority of these elderly subjects.