Research Uncovers How the Voice Gives Away a Person's Age.

(From AScribe)

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Everyone knows wrinkles and gray hair are visible signs of age. But indicators of age in a person's voice are harder to pin down: For every seeming giveaway such as low volume, it's easy to think of an exception.

Now, in findings that could have implications for treatment of speech disorders, criminal forensics and even prove useful in Hollywood, University of Florida scientists think they've cracked at least part of the mystery.

Through experiments that hinged on playing recorded voices of people of various ages to listeners and having them guess their ages, UF experts in communication sciences and disorders identified two key elements of speech that seem to signal age: pitch and rate of word delivery. To test their …