Acoustic attributes of preadolescent voices.

The purpose of this study was to investigate acoustic attributes of the voices of preadolescent children as a function of sex and age. Voice samples of the sustained vowel /a/ were obtained from 180 children, 15 males and 15 females at ages five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten years. Measurement of fundamental frequency was obtained to determine sex-related differences and age-related trends. This acoustic analysis revealed that a male/female difference in fundamental frequency emerged by age seven, and that fundamental frequency decreased significantly in male children only, between age five and age ten.