<p>I did a bit of research and did find <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michelle-Ciucci/publication/267708767_Effect_of_Aging_on_the_Voice_in_Rats/links/56afabb208ae9c1968b468dc/Effect-of-Aging-on-the-Voice-in-Rats.pdf" rel="noreferrer">one poster on research gate</a> which seems to indicate that rats, at least, do undergo voice changes as they age: it appears that the range of pitches in their voice tends to go down as they get older:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/obqYd.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/obqYd.png" alt="Ultrasonic Vocalization Acoustic Parameters" /></a></p>
<p>The authors propose that this is probably related to loss of motor neurons as the rat ages. This said, for the moment I am unable to find anything that would allow one to start with the pitch of their voice and determine approximate age. In fact it seems dubious that it would be possible since there will be enormous variation depending on breed.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-06-22T13:33:19.590Z
Very interesting. In the poster I could not find how did they determine the sound intensity threshold to get the bandwidth. I.e. which intensities were not counted into the bandwidth.
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CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-06-22T12:43:54.283Z
2022-06-22T12:43:54.283Z
anonymous2
<p>I know of one example that sort of fits your question:</p>
<p>Male Northern elephant seals use vocalizations in a breeding context; they can identify individuals by signature vocalizations, and can remember if that male is more or less dominant than they are (from a previous physical fight, etc.). Casey et al. 2020 monitored males over several years and found that younger males produce more variable vocalizations, but as they mature, they sort of &quot;settle in&quot; to their particular signature call.</p>
<p>I'm not sure this could be used to necessarily age a male (in the case of male elephant seals this wouldn't be helpful because there are much more obvious signs of age based on their sexual dimporphism and age class based on size and physical traits has been well studied) but it is an example of an ontogenetic shift in vocalizations.</p>
<p><em>Casey, Caroline, I. Charrier, Nicolas Mathevon, C. Nasr, Parker Forman, and Colleen Reichmuth. &quot;The genesis of giants: behavioural ontogeny of male northern elephant seals.&quot; <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347220301731" rel="noreferrer">Animal Behaviour 166 (2020): 247-259.</a></em></p>

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2022-06-22T14:35:01.873Z
2022-06-22T14:35:01.873Z
selene
<p>One of the daily tasks of people working in animal shelters is determining the age of animals.  At younger ages it's relatively straight-forward, most species have fairly regular dental progression which allows a good estimation.</p>
<p>In horses, you can make estimations afterwards by determining the wear on their teeth, but in dogs and cats it is virtually impossible to make a valid estimation once all the adult teeth are in.</p>
<p>In humans we observe a phenomenon known as presbyphonia, meaning that the voice changes as we get older. I wondered whether animals also undergo the same sort of change? Could this be of value in the future for determining the age of animals?</p>

<physiology>
Do animals undergo presbyphonia?
# Do animals undergo presbyphonia?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-06-22)

One of the daily tasks of people working in animal shelters is determining the age of animals. At younger ages it's relatively straight-forward, most species have fairly regular dental progression which allows a good estimation.

In horses, you can make estimations afterwards by determining the wear on their teeth, but in dogs and cats it is virtually impossible to make a valid estimation once all the adult teeth are in.

In humans we observe a phenomenon known as presbyphonia, meaning that the voice changes as we get older. I wondered whether animals also undergo the same sort of change? Could this be of value in the future for determining the age of animals?

**Tags:** physiology


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2022-06-22. Score: 8

I did a bit of research and did find [one poster on research gate](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michelle-Ciucci/publication/267708767_Effect_of_Aging_on_the_Voice_in_Rats/links/56afabb208ae9c1968b468dc/Effect-of-Aging-on-the-Voice-in-Rats.pdf) which seems to indicate that rats, at least, do undergo voice changes as they age: it appears that the range of pitches in their voice tends to go down as they get older:

[![Ultrasonic Vocalization Acoustic Parameters](https://i.sstatic.net/obqYd.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/obqYd.png)

The authors propose that this is probably related to loss of motor neurons as the rat ages. This said, for the moment I am unable to find anything that would allow one to start with the pitch of their voice and determine approximate age. In fact it seems dubious that it would be possible since there will be enormous variation depending on breed.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Very interesting. In the poster I could not find how did they determine the sound intensity threshold to get the bandwidth. I.e. which intensities were not counted into the bandwidth.  

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### Answer by username_2 on 2022-06-22. Score: 7

I know of one example that sort of fits your question:

Male Northern elephant seals use vocalizations in a breeding context; they can identify individuals by signature vocalizations, and can remember if that male is more or less dominant than they are (from a previous physical fight, etc.). Casey et al. 2020 monitored males over several years and found that younger males produce more variable vocalizations, but as they mature, they sort of "settle in" to their particular signature call.

I'm not sure this could be used to necessarily age a male (in the case of male elephant seals this wouldn't be helpful because there are much more obvious signs of age based on their sexual dimporphism and age class based on size and physical traits has been well studied) but it is an example of an ontogenetic shift in vocalizations.

*Casey, Caroline, I. Charrier, Nicolas Mathevon, C. Nasr, Parker Forman, and Colleen Reichmuth. "The genesis of giants: behavioural ontogeny of male northern elephant seals." [Animal Behaviour 166 (2020): 247-259.](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347220301731)*


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