Considering that voice quality provides information about the anatomical characteristics of the speaker, we verified if there were significant differences in somatotype and body composition between normal and dysphonic speakers. Anthropometric measurements were taken of a sample of 72 adult participants. Perception and acoustic evaluations as well as nasoendoscopy were used to assign speakers into normal or dysphonic groups. There were no significant differences in the somatotype and body composition variables, between groups, namely, the mean somatotype attitudinal distance and somatotype dispersion distance, the mean vector of the somatotype components, and the mean of percentage fat, fat mass, fat-free mass, body density, and body mass index.

Authors: Franco D, Fragoso I, Andrea M, Teles J, Martins F

Published in: Journal of Voice

doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2015.11.02