Heartbeat-related fundamental frequency and amplitude variation in healthy young and elderly male voices

Modulation of the acoustic amplitude and fundamental frequency of a sustained vowel across the heart cycle was examined via signal-averaging. Ten normal young and ten normal elderly men prolonged phonations of the vowel /a/. Consistent with previous studies, the young men's maximal heart-beat-related frequency and amplitude variations averaged 1.0% and 8.4% of their respective means. Such modulation was estimated to account for 6.6% of the absolute jitter and 11.3% of the shimmer measured in these voice samples. The extent of this systematic variation was significantly greater in the older voices, averaging 2.4% of the mean frequency and 15.4% of the mean amplitude and was estimated to account for approximately 12.9% and 15.8% of their mean absolute jitter and shimmer, respectively. This age-related difference is thought to be a manifestation of involutional changes in laryngeal vascular and soft tissues and in ventilatory biomechanics.