Zajac D J
Department of Dental Ecology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 27599, USA.
J Acoust Soc Am. 1997 Sep;102(3):1846-52. doi: 10.1121/1.420091.
Intraoral air pressure (P0), nasal airflow, and nasal air volume characteristics were determined from 63 adults speakers during production of oral and nasal consonants. The speakers were categorized into two age groups. Young speakers (21 males, 21 females) ranged in age from 18 to 37 years (mean = 24); older speakers (10 males, 11 females) ranged in age from 68 to 83 years (mean = 75). Speakers produced the syllables /pi/ and /si/ and the word "hamper" at self-determined loudness levels during reiterant speech tasks. Results indicated similar velopharyngeal function between young and older adults as reflected by nasal airflow and air volume measures. Older adults, however, exhibited significantly higher levels of P0 than younger adults during production of /p/ in "hamper." In addition (a) male speakers exhibited higher P0 than females during production of /p/ in "hamper," (b) all speakers demonstrated declination of P0 during production of /p/ in "hamper" as a function of word position in the utterance, and (c) male and female speakers exhibited different patterns of nasal air volume during production of "hamper" as a function of word position in the utterance. The intraoral air pressure results suggest differences in respiratory function between young and older speakers. The nasal air volume results suggest a gender specific velopharyngeal declination effect. Implications for velar motor control strategies are discussed.
在63名成年说话者发出口腔辅音和鼻音时，测定了口腔内气压（P0）、鼻腔气流和鼻腔气量特征。这些说话者被分为两个年龄组。年轻组（21名男性，21名女性）年龄在18至37岁之间（平均 = 24岁）；老年组（10名男性，11名女性）年龄在68至83岁之间（平均 = 75岁）。说话者在重复言语任务中以自行确定的响度水平发出音节/pi/和/si/以及单词“hamper”。结果表明，通过鼻腔气流和气量测量反映出，年轻人和老年人的腭咽功能相似。然而，在发出“hamper”中的/p/时，老年人的口腔内气压（P0）水平显著高于年轻人。此外，（a）在发出“hamper”中的/p/时，男性说话者的口腔内气压高于女性；（b）所有说话者在发出“hamper”中的/p/时，口腔内气压随话语中单词位置的变化而下降；（c）男性和女性说话者在发出“hamper”时，鼻腔气量随话语中单词位置的变化呈现不同模式。口腔内气压结果表明年轻人和老年人在呼吸功能上存在差异。鼻腔气量结果表明存在性别特异性的腭咽下降效应。文中讨论了对腭运动控制策略的影响。
