DETERMINATION OF PSYCHOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS OF ISFAHAN PRIMARY SCHOOLTEACHERS' SPECIFIC VOICE DISORDERS QUESTIONNAIRES

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Voice disorder between teachers which are the largest professional voice users is about 60%. Since most of the voice symptoms of the teachers with voice disorder is due to the effect of their jobs, it is necessary to design a questionnaire with appropriate characteristics for measuring voice disorder and fast diagnosis and reduction of the social and economic costs. a protocol entitled Designing a voice disorder test for elementary teachers in Isfahan” was designed by Mojiri and Azamian in 2010. The weak point of that questionnaire was not determination of clinical utility. Therefore, the aim of the present research returns back to the determination of psychometric properties of that questionnaire in order to fast screening of voice disorder in this population. Materials and Methods: In this research, 52 teachers with normal voice and 52 with voice disorders in an analytical study with easy sampling method were employed. Voice samples of teachers were gathered in order to perform acoustic and perceptual evaluations and then the form of voice complaints and the questionnaire were filled. The ROC test was used to determine the sensitivity, specificity and cut off point. Results: In the research for cut-off point 9 the sensitivity, specificity, positive Predictive Value , Negative positive Predictive Value, likelihood ratio 0.78, 0.94, %93 , %81, and %13.6 were obtained respectively. Conclusion: The present questionnaire has a great ability in the determination of people with voice disorders and the teachers with normal voice. Therefore, it can be considered as an appropriate protocol for voice disorders screening between the teachers. Keywords: voice disorders, sensitivity, specificity, cut-off point, psychometric characteristics, positive Predictive Value, Negative Predictive Value.