LONGITUDINAL RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENT VOICE CHANGE IN MALES

Many of the characteristics and processes associated with adolescence are reasonably well understood; others are not. Still unanswered are q uestions about adolescent voice change. For example, when does the ave rage child start the process; what changes result and what is their ex tent; when is it complete? Further, how closely do shifts in vocal lev el parallel, or even predict, the adolescent process? This project was carried out in order to obtain data which would complement available information on the subject and provide additional specificity about vo ice change and pubescence-at least for boys. To that end, a longitudin al study was conducted in which 48 males were tracked over a 5-year pe riod. Voice measurements were made-including speaking fundamental freq uency (SFF) and phonational frequency range (PFR)-as were others relat ing to physical size (height, weight, and six body dimensions). It was found that (1) stable adolescent voice change (AVC) measurements coul d be obtained, (2) maturation patterns appeared predictable on the bas is of AVC changes, and (3) both the onset and duration of voice change extended over a longer period of time than had been previously though t.