Speaking and age

[rdearman]

Not sure if this means anything to anyone, but recently I was listening to a very old man on the radio. (D-Day veteran) and you could tell he was an old man. Slurred speech, a "wet" sound to his voice, etc. Then there was a young man probably 16 or 17 and of course the announcer who was probably 30-40 years old. It struck me that most males have these stages in their speaking life where after the voice has broken, it still should sort of high pitched, then flat, then "wet".

So what is giving away the age of the speakers? Pitch? Tone? Pace? Breathlessness?

Anyone know of any research on this sort of thing?

[Speakeasy]

Irreversible degeneration of the body's tissues: brain, mouth, vocal cords, lungs, nothing is spared the humiliation … no studies needed, I’m well on my way.

[Serpent]

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/voice-changes-what-can-they-tell-you-as-you-age/
Unlike puberty, when everyone’s voice changes

My mum often gets taken for a child on the phone I'm sure she's not the only one.

[DaveAgain]

My mum often gets taken for a child on the phone I'm sure she's not the only one.

I remember listening to a radio interview with an actress who often played child roles (on radio), she could sound adult/childish at will. It was quite unsettling!

[Iversen]

Some very old persons have bad teeth and maybe other degeneration signs in their mouth region, while others speak oldfashioned dialects or seem to be so tired of living that they don't even care whether people understand them - but you can't generalize. Other elderly persons speak slowlier and with a clearer pronunciation than young people, who sometimes seem to be so busy with their cellphones that they don't have time to deal with people standing just in front of them. The important factor seems to be whether people really are interested in being understood (and take the necessary time to achieve this), and whether they understand that they have to speak more clearly to foreigners than to local people.

[aokoye]

This is personally not a research interest of mine, but I'm more than willing to bet a lot of the research that has been done on this has been done by speech pathologists (assuming they're based in countries that have a strong research tradition in the field).

[sjintje]

Heard what I thought was an elderly voice on the radio. Turned out to be Thea Dorn, German author and general literary person. Was quite shocked as I thought when I'd seen on TV, she was quite young but had a distinguished, educated, pleasant sounding voice. Apparently shes 49. Looks 10 years younger, sounds 10 years older.