Respiratory Dynamics of Vocally Healthy Elderly Men During Phonatory Tasks to Assess Vocal Functionality: Normative Data for Clinical Practice

• Grant number: 24/17745-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2024
• End date: November 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Speech Therapy
• Principal Investigator: Rosiane Kimiko Yamasaki Odagima
• Grantee: Gabriela Vital Silvério
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 23/11420-2 - Respiratory, laryngeal and vocal tract articulators dynamics of vocally healthy young to elderly adults during phonation tasks to assess vocal functionality and morphophysiology of vocal techniques, AP.R

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Voice and speech production depend on the important interaction between the respiratory, phonatory, resonant and articulatory subsystems. The respiratory subsystem is the basis of vocal production by generating the airflownecessary for vocal fold vibration. With aging, changes in lung structure and function may occur that impact vocal production. The literature still lacks studies showing the impact of aging on the respiratory dynamics of elderly individuals during phonatory tasks that assess vocal functionality. OBJECTIVES: 1. Investigate the respiratory dynamics of vocally healthy elderly men during dynamic vocal analysis (DVA) tasks using respiratory inductance plethysmography; 2. generate normative data for clinical practice on the respiratory dynamics of elderly men. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study approved by the Research Ethics Committee, number 6.946.377. The sample will consist of 36 men aged 60 to 80 years. Participants will perform the following DVA tasks:counting numbers from 1 to 30 in three intensities (habitual, soft, and loud); and sustained vowel "é" in three intensities (habitual, soft, and loud) and three frequencies (habitual, high, and low). Respiratory dynamics will be recorded by inductance plethysmography using two respiratory belts, one positioned at the level of the rib cage(expansibility of the upper region of the rib cage), the second on the diaphragmatic region(expansibility of the diaphragm region). Plethysmography parameters: number and duration of respiratory cycles, amplitude of movement of the rib cage and diaphragmatic region under conditions of maximum inspiration and expiration, and amplitude of movement during the DVA tasks (mV). For reproducibility analysis, the DVA tasks will be repeated twice, consecutively. ANALYSIS OF RESULTS: Comparative and reproducibility analyses will be performed to obtain normative data for clinical practice, which may be used in the future in comparison with elderly dysphonic men.