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Vocal Training of Older Rats may Reduce Age Related Voice Problems: Research

by Bidita Debnath on Jun 27 2013 10:04 PM

 Vocal Training of Older Rats may Reduce Age Related Voice Problems: Research
Vocal training of older rats reduces some of the voice problems related to their aging, such as the loss of vocal intensity that accompanies changes in the muscles of the larynx, finds a new study.
This is an animal model of a vocal pathology that many humans face as they age.

The researchers hope that in the future, voice therapy in aging humans will help improve their quality of life.

Audio Rats like those used in University of Illinois speech and hearing sciences professor Aaron Johnson's study make ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) that are above the range of human hearing, but special recording equipment and a computer that lowers the frequency of the rat calls allows humans to perceive them. As the recording shows, the USVs sound a bit like bird calls.

University of Illinois speech and hearing science professor Aaron Johnson, who led the new study along with his colleagues at the University of Wisconsin, said that aging can cause the muscles of the larynx, the organ that contains the vocal folds, to atrophy.

This condition, called presbyphonia, may be treatable with vocal training, he said.

The research is published in The Journals of Gerontology.

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Source-ANI


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