QUESTION: You can tell the approximate age of a person by
listening to his or her voice. I also think women's voices age
more rapidly than men's, as I can more readily tell it is an
older lady speaking than an older man. What happens to the vocal
cords as a person ages? – Sandy Fuersich, San Diego ANSWER:
Shakespeare described how an aging man's voice, “turning again
toward childish treble, pipes and whistles in his sound” (“As
You Like It,” Act 2, Scene 7). Tests with modern acoustic
equipment validate these poetic observations. Older people's
voices can be distinguished by their decreases in loudness and
clarity, changes in pitch, tremulousness and breathiness. The
medical term for normal age-related changes of the voice is
presbylarynx. The prefix “presby” means elder. The larynx is the
voice box. It lies in the middle of the neck and is composed of
nine cartilages, held together by ligaments and controlled by
muscles. Within the larynx are the vocal cords – paired
ligaments covered by mucous membranes. Va