Table 3.
Summary of studies of effects of aging on vowel formants (and fo when included in the study).
| Source | Participants | Change in fo | Change in F1 | Change in F2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cox & Selent (2015) [43] | 35 men in five age cohorts | Decreased | NA | NA |
| Debruyne & Decoster (1999) [61] | 40 young adults (20 male, 20 female) and 40 older adults (20 male, 20 female) | Increased in men, decreased in women | Decreased in men and women | Decreased in men and women |
| Endres, Bambach, & Flosser (1971) [7] | Longitudinal study of 2 men and 3 women over a time span of 13 to 15 years | Decreased in men and women | Decreased in men and women | Decreased in men and women |
| Linville & Fisher (1985) [14] | 75 women at three age levels (25 to 35, 45 to 55, 70 to 80) | NA | Decreased in women for one vowel studied | -- |
| Fletcher, McAuliffe, Lansford, & Liss (2015) [62] | 149 speakers of New Zealand English (55 males, 94 females), aged between 65 and 90 | NA | No change | No change |
| Harrington, Palethorpe, & Watson (2007) [6] | Longitudinal study of 2 men and 2 women over varying spans of time | Decreased in both men and women | Decreased in both men and women | -- |
| Kaur & Narang (2015) [63] | Unspecified number of women in two age groups | Decreased in women | Decreased in women | Decreased in women |
| Linville & Rens (2001) [9] | NA | Decreased in both men and women | Decreased in women; tended to decrease in men | |
| Mwangi et al. (2009) [64] | One speaker (Queen Elizabeth II) from age 26 to 76 years | Decreased | Decreased | No change |
| Rastatter & Jaques (1990) [5] | 20 young adults (10 men, 10 women; mean age of 21) 20 older adults (10 men, 10 women, mean age of 74) | NA | Varied with vowel for both men and women; apparent centralization | Varied with vowel for both men and women; apparent centralization |
| Reubold, Harrington, & Kleber (2010) [65 | Longitudinal study of 2 men and 3 women over a time span of at least XX years | Decreased in women but one man showed a decrease followed by an increase in old age | Decreased for schwa vowel | No consistent change |
| Scukanec & Petrosino (1991) [10] | 6 young women (mean age of 21) and 3 older women (mean age of 68) | NA | Decreased for 4 vowels studied in women | Decreased for back vowels in women |
| Schötz (2006) [26] | 269 women and 268 men ranging age from 18 to 90 years | In women, decreased until age 50, followed by a slight increase until age group 70, then another decrease; in men, slight decrease until age 50, followed by an increase into old age | F1 decreased in some vowels | No consistent change |
| Sebastian, Babu, Oommen & Ballraj (2012) [66] | 20 men (age range of 60–80) and 20 women (age ranges of 60–80) were divided into 4 age groups (60–64, 65–69, 70–74, and 75–79) with 5 subjects in each group. | Increased in men, decreased in women | No change | No change |
| Torre & Barlow (2009) [3] | 27 young adults (12 men and 15 women, mean age of 25.5) and 59 older adults (27 men and 32 women, mean age of 75) | Increased in men, decreased in women | Decreased for some vowels for men, decreased for all vowels in women | Interacted with sex and vowel |
| Vorperian et al. (present study) | 43 men and 53 women between the ages of 20 and 92 years | Decreased in women | Varied with vowel | Varied with vowel |
| Xue, Jiang, Lin, Glassenberg, & Mueller (1999) [8] | 10 young women (mean age of 40) and 12 older women (mean age of 56) | NA | Decreased in men and women | Varied with vowel |
| Xue & Hao (2003) [67] | 38 young adults (19 men and 19 women, mean age of 22) and 38 older adults (19 men and 19 women, mean ages of 71 and 74, respectively) | NA | Decreased for most vowels in men and women | Decreased depending on vowel in men and women |