Steffens

The Aging Voice Steffens

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject Rhetoric / Elocution / Oratory, grade: 1,0, University of Cologne (Englisches Seminar), course: B-Seminar Phonology, language: English, abstract: The concept of voice recognition is a basic concept of nature. Voice is one of the first sensations a human gets in contact with. Many scientists state that the cognition of the maternal voice in early childhood or in embryonic stadium has significant impact on processes of cognitive abilities, learning aptitude, as well as discretion and language acquisition in later life. As voice recognition is an elementary ability of every human, the question arises in how far the specific processes of voice recognition perform. It is obvious, that every one of us can easily distinguish between male and female speakers, children an older people, or even whether a speaker originates from e.g. Africa or India. But what are the characteristic aspects of this recognition ability? What are characteristics of the aging process of the human speech apparatus? In how far are voice frequencies and other physical features of voice relevant to designate a speaker's age? What are the correlates of voice aging and the perception of aged voice?