Background and Aim: The voice of human being changes during lifetime with different patterns in males and females. In addition to assessment of changes due to aging, some studies examined the voice changes among various languages and ethnical groups. This study is performed to evaluate the fundamental frequency changes in normal 9-50 year-old Persian (Farsi) speaking individuals.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 320 voice samples in normal voiceless environment were recorded. The mean of fundamental frequency of vowels and counting is measured by Dr Speech software (real analysis program). Data analysis was performed by MANOVA test and the profiles of their changes were plotted.
Results: The profile of mean of fundamental frequency changes was different in males and females. The mean of fundamental frequency was equal in both genders until 13 years old and the samples of voice had low pitch (Mean: higher than 200 Hz). MFF after 13 years old significantly decreased in males specially in vowels (p<0.001). The changes in vowels and counting were similar. The mean of fundamental frequency in both genders, between 20-40 years old had  relative constancy.
Conclusion: The mean of fundamental frequency changes of vowels and counting in females and males result from diverse dimensions of larynx and other anatomical differences. Significant changes of mean of fundamental frequency in both genders after 13 years old result from puberty in males. The proportional consistence of mean of fundamental frequency between 20-40 years old is probably due to the uniformity of body in this age range.

Background and Aim: Rhyme awareness is an important criterion for speech, language and writing processing. In Iran, there is no auditory tasks of rhyme awareness available for assessment of 5-6 year-old Persian-speaking children. The aim of this study was to develop and to evaluate Persian rhyme awareness tasks in 5-6 year-old Persian-speaking children.
Methods: A hundred normal 5-6 year-old Persian-speaking children (50 girls and 50 boys) were randomly selected. The two rhyme awareness tasks of this study were rhyme detection and rhyme production. The validity and reliability of these tasks were studied by content validity index, intraclass correlation coefficient, and standard error of measurement. The correlation between tasks was studied by Pearson correlation and the mean scores of two sections were compared by easiness level method. The comparison of mean scores of girls and boys were evaluated by independent t-test.
Results: The results showed that the proposed tasks had appropriate validity and reliability. The ability of children in production section was significantly more than in detection section. The correlation of each of two sections with total tasks was significant (p<0.05). In addition, the mean scores of girls and boys were not statistically different (p>0.05).
Conclusions: The proposed tasks are appropriate for assessment of rhyme awareness skills with appropriate validity and reliability in both genders. Two Sections of the tasks had significant correlations and influence on together. The abilities of girls and boys were the same.

Background and Aim: Verb is one of the most important aspects of a sentence, and verb deficit is a noticeable part of developmental language disorders. In Iran, there is no standard test for evaluating this aspect of language in children. This study aimed to develop and evaluate a picture verb test for 36-54 month-old normal Persian-speaking children, and assess its ability to differentiate between children.
Methods: A list of verbs that could be depicted was collected and content validity was assessed by seven speech therapist. 55 verbs were selected. Then, three pictures were prepared for each verb and one of those pictures was chosen by the same seven specialists. 106 children aged 36-54 months participated in this study. They were divided into three groups (36-42, 42-48, and 48-54 months). Reliability of this test was assessed by Spearman&aposs correlation and internal consistency. Correlation between children&aposs scores and their age was calculated.
Results: Content validity index of all verbs were 1. Spearman&aposs correlation of 0.89 and internal consistency of 0.60 was obtained. By deletion of item method, the Kuder-Richardson score was enhanced to 0.71. There was a significant correlation between children&aposs ability to respond and their age (r=0.76, p < 0.001).
Conclusion: This test is a suitable tool for assessment of verbs in 36-54 month-old Persian-speaking children and can differentiate between three groups under study.

Background and Aim: Social interaction plays an essential role in acquisition of speech and language as one of the most important developmental factors. The recent studies indicated that language abilities have a close relationship to social skills. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship of development of expressive language and dimensions of social skills in 4-6-years-old Persian-speaking children.
Methods: In this study, 123 normal Persian-speaking 4-6-year-old children (76 boys and 47 girls) who had all the specific criteria for normality were randomly selected from several preschools in Shiraz, Iran. During the first stage of testing, test of language development (TOLD) was administered to investigate language development of participants later, the social skills rating system (SSRS) including the teachers&apos and parents&apos forms were completed by the parents and teachers of participants. The data were analyzed using Pearson&aposs correlation coefficients.
Results: The correlations between expressive language and dimensions of social skills were significant (p<0.001), but teachers&apos form had a greater correlation with language development (p=0.031). Besides, Pearson&aposs correlations between teachers&apos and parents&apos forms was not significant (p=0.27).
Conclusion: According to our results, expressive language develops along with social skills development. On the other hand, these results are based on the differences between home and educational environment in social skills achievements of children. These findings are to be considered to provide crucial training in both environments for the children to improve the development of their expressive language.

Background and Aim: The ability of conversational repair is a subset of pragmatic language. When the listener does not understand the speaker&aposs intention, and the speaker cannot find a way of repairing the conversation to make his/her massage clear, communication will fail. This study aims to examine and compare the conversational repair skill in two groups of three and five year old children, to determine different conversational repair strategies and compare these skills among these groups.
Methods: One hundred and twenty Persian speaking children of three and five years of Ahwaz, Iran, were selected. The study tools were two series of pictures. During the retelling of the pictures the examiner created a situation to elicit a conversational repair strategy. Percentages of the usage of different kinds of conversational repair in each group were calculated and compared using student&aposs t-test.
Results: The usage of repetition and inappropriate response is decreased in the group of five year olds compared to the three year olds, but cue-repair and repetition method is increased. The addition method has remained relatively constant. There was a significant difference between average percentage of using repetition (p=0.04) and cue-repair (p=0.001) of the two groups. The percentage of application of repetition method in three year olds and cue-term method in five year olds were significantly higher than other conversational repair strategies.
Conclusion: With the increase in age and development of language skills the probability of using more complex and difficult strategies, like the cue-repair method, increases.

Background and Aim: In the process of assessing the nasalance scores in patient’s speech, it is vital to know about normative data in the speech of normal subjects. The main objective in this study was to obtain normative data on nasalance scores in normal Persian-speaking children aged 3.5 to 6.5 years.

Methods: In this cross-sectional and comparative study, nasalance was measured in the speech of 112 children (55 boys and 57 girls) in Tehran, Iran. After auditory screening and speech assessments, the subjects who get the sufficient criterions entered the study. Speech sample was obtained by imitation and repeating sentences (14 oral and 3 nasal sentences) and mean nasalance score was measured by Nasal view software.

Results: A mean nasalance score of 46.25% was obtained for nasal sentences and a mean score of 43.67% for fricative sentences, 43.41% for affricative sentences and 42.21% for stop sentences. There was higher nasalance scores in girls but the difference was not significant (p=0.201) there was a significant difference in nasalance scores between different age groups in stop (p=0.037), fricative (p=0.036) and nasal sentences (p=0.032).

Conclusion: Findings of this study prepared good statistical data about nasalance scores in normal Persian-speaking children aged 3.5-6.5 years. The study also revealed that nasalance scores can be different in sentences with same manner of articulation and can be affected by presence or absence of nasal consonants and even age.