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. 2019 Feb;12(1):95-99.
doi: 10.21053/ceo.2018.00717. Epub 2018 Sep 22.

Nasality Changes With Age in Normal Korean-Speaking Adults

Jun Xu  1   2 , Young-Ae Kang  1 , Soo-Kyoung Park  1 , Young Hoon Yoon  1 , Shang Jie Bai  2 , Yong De Jin  2 , Yong Min Kim  1 , Ki-Sang Rha  1
Affiliations

Nasality Changes With Age in Normal Korean-Speaking Adults

Jun Xu et al. Clin Exp Otorhinolaryngol. 2019 Feb.

Abstract

Objectives: This study was performed to investigate the effects of aging on nasality and the influence of age-related changes in nasal cavity volume and nasal patency on nasality.

Methods: A total of 180 healthy Korean-speaking adult volunteers, who had no nasal or voice-related complaints, were enrolled in this study. Nasometry, acoustic rhinometry, and rhinomanometry were performed to obtain the nasalance score, nasal cavity volume, and nasal resistance, respectively. Changes in these parameters with age were analyzed.

Results: Nasal cavity volume increased significantly, and nasal resistance decreased significantly, with age. The nasalance scores for the nasal passage and oronasal passage decreased significantly with age, while there were no age-related changes in nasalance scores for the oral passage.

Conclusion: Nasalance scores for the passages containing nasal consonants decreased with age although significant increases were observed in nasal cavity volume and nasal patency with age. Therefore, the age-related decreases in nasalance scores may result from factors other than changes in the nasal cavity.

Keywords: Acoustic Rhinometry; Adult; Aging; Nasal Cavity; Rhinomanometry; Voice Quality.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Correlations of age with nasal cavity volume (A), total inspiratory nasal resistance (B), and total expiratory resistance (C). Data are shown as scatterplots with linear regression curves.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Correlations of age and nasalance score for oronasal passage (A), nasal passage (B), and oral passage (C). Data are shown as scatterplots with linear regression curves.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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