Relations between vocal self-perception and psyche in a group of male adolescents undergoing physiological voice change

Abstract

Purpose: To analyze the relation between vocal self-perception and psyche in a group of male adolescents undergoing voice change. Method: Qualitative study involving six teenagers aged between 13 years and 5 months and 14 years and 11 months undergoing voice changes, 8th grade students of a public school in São Paulo. The procedures were: perceptive auditory vocal assessment, completion of the Descriptive Terms for Voice (TDV) to describe the subjects’ perception of their voices before and after the intervention group and a description of the focus group that addressed the following issues: adolescence and pubertal changes, process of vocal changes and their impact on body image and identity reverberations (organic, subjective and social) arising from adolescence. The data were analyzed through categorization of meanings that were considered relevant for the purpose of this study. Results: There were predominant feelings of estrangement / discomfort concerning the experience of adolescence, generated by new affective and behavioral demands. The subjects reported difficulties in adapting to body changes, especially changes in vocal quality and its negative impact on their conversation partners. The results of the TDV show that the psychosocial aspects of this impact are predominant. The negative vocal attributes increased after intervention. Conclusion: The results show that changes in the adolescents’ vocal pattern reverberate in their psychic functioning and generate impact in the vocal self-perception, thus reaffirming the biopsychic character that is inherent to the human voice.