A lifetime of professional singing: Voice parameters and age in the Netherlands Radio Choir.

In professional choirs one would like to identify the incidence and severity of vocal problems due to ageing, and know how to influence them. The aim of the current study was to investigate to what extent easily obtainable voice parameters were age-related. From 47 singers of the Netherlands Radio Choir the Voice Range Profile parameters and the vibrato characteristics were measured. Dysphonia Severity Index (DSI) was calculated. We found that the age of male and female singers correlated negatively to the highest fundamental frequency and the Dysphonia Severity Index. No signs of slower and wider vibrato were found. These findings can lead to identifying adequate parameters e.g. for the ageing voice, useful in larger groups of professional singers.