Hormonal Regulation of Normal Voice Production in Adolescence, a Review

Voice production is discussed based on the hormonal regulation of adolescence. The reason for the overview is that voice production is an integrated part of pathology-in many multi-handicapped cases, voice production is extremely important. In a search made by the Royal English Society of Medicine only few studies of adolescence included voice production, so we supplemented the overview with references from other trials. Testosterone is related to the lowering of voice in males, and oestradiol to the change in females. The interesting prediction function of serum hormone binding globulin (SHBG), for change in the fundamental frequency (F0) during reading in adolescence, is elucidated. Not only the lowering of the F0 but also a widening of the frequencies used during speech is seen. The lowest tone (in the voice profiles) is related to the hormonal development. Other androgens and oestrogens are discussed. The hormonal development of voice production is regulated from the hypothalamus probably related to growth hormone. Input is made mainly from the posterior superior temporal gyrus, insula, and the supplementary motor area to the primitive integrative vocalisation centre in the motor cortex. All these findings are important in the future, using advanced voice analysis and artificial intelligence methods to understand pathology.