FORMANT FREQUENCY-CHARACTERISTICS OF ELDERLY SPEAKERS IN CONTEXTUAL SPEECH

The present study measured F-1 and F-2 formant frequency levels of eld erly and young male and female speakers producing the /i/, /ae/, /bool ean AND/, /u/, and /a/ vowels in two carrier phrases. Results of a ser ies of ANOVAs showed significant interactions of speaker age x vowel f or both F-1 and F-2 formant frequencies for the male and female speake rs. Results suggested that while elderly male speakers exhibit signifi cant alterations in vowel production during contextual speech, elderly female speakers generally maintain formant frequency integrity or app ropriate articulatory posturing during contextual vowel productions.