Voice Characteristics of Preschool Age Children

Limited data exists in the literature that describes typical voice production for preschool-aged children. The purpose of this study was to collect normative data for voice production and calculate the prevalence of dysphonia in 3- to 5- year-olds. Twenty-seven children were recruited from the greater Cincinnati, Ohio area. Several acoustic and aerodynamic measures of voice were obtained, including (a) sustained vowel fundamental frequency (F0), (b) speaking F0, (c) maximum phonatory frequency range (MPFR), (d) and maximum phonation time (MPT). Findings for F0 and MPT corroborate data in existing literature. Data for MPFR was not able to be reported due to lack of accurate measurement methods. The prevalence figure for dysphonia was not valid due to small sample size. Continuation of this study is necessary to further validate results.