Selected speech and fundamental frequency characteristics of patients with acromegaly.

Selected speech characteristics of patients with acromegaly, a relatively uncommon endocrine disorder resulting from excessive secretion of growth hormone, are described. In patients with acromegaly, increased quantities of circulating growth hormone may cause hypertrophy of multiple bodily structures, including components of the phonatory and articulatory apparatus. Speech recordings of 11 patients with acromegaly (six women and five men) were subjected to fundamental frequency and articulation analysis. Despite clinically apparent lingual hypertrophy in each of the patients studied, no speech articulation errors were found. In contrast, acromegaly appeared to produce a lowering of voice fundamental frequency (fo) characteristics in some, but not all, patients. Women exhibited more striking changes in fo than did men.