GLOTTAL CLOSURE, TRANSGLOTTAL AIR-FLOW, AND VOICE QUALITY IN HEALTHY MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN

Seventeen healthy women, 45 to 61 years old, were examined using video fiberstroboscopy during phonation at three loudness levels. Two phonia tricians evaluated glottal closure using category and ratio scales. Tr ansglottal airflow was studied by inverse filtering of the oral airflo w signal recorded in a flow mask (Glottal Enterprises System) during t he spoken phrase /ba:pa:pa: pa:p/ at three loudness levels. Subglottal pressure was estimated from the intraoral pressure during p occlusion . Running speech and the repeated /pa:/ syllables were perceptually ev aluated by three speech pathologists regarding breathiness, hypo-, and hyperfunction, using continuous scales. Incomplete glottal closure wa s found in 35 of 46 phonations (76%). The degree of glottal closure in creased significantly with raised loudness. Half of the women closed t he glottis completely during loud phonation. Posterior glottal chink ( PGC) was the most common gap configuration and was found in 28 of 46 p honations (61%). One third of the PGCs were in the cartilaginous glott is (PGCc) only. Two thirds extended into the membranous portion (PGCm) ; most of these occurred during soft phonation. Peak flow, peak-to-pea k (AC) flow, and the maximum rate of change for the flow in the closin g phase increased significantly with raised loudness. Minimum flow dec reased significantly from normal to loud voice. Breathiness decreased with increased loudness. The results suggest that the incomplete closu re patterns PGCc and PGCm during soft phonation ought primarily to be regarded as normal for Swedish women in this age group.