Abstract
To gather information about vocal health and hygiene, voice symptoms, and voice handicap from drama students with and without vocal complaints. A total of 57 drama students participated of this study. They were divided into two groups: no vocal complaints group (NCG), with 39 students; and with vocal complaints group (WCG), with 18 students. The participants answered to three self-assessment protocols: 1. Vocal Health and Hygiene Questionnaire (VHHQ), 2. Voice Symptom Scale (VoiSS); and 3. Voice Handicap Index (VHI-10). No difference was observed between groups related to the knowledge of vocal health and hygiene. The drama students from the WCG presented higher scores, more voice symptoms in all subscales of the VoiSS, and more voice handicap, e.g,higher VHI-10 scores than the NCG. The more knowledge on vocal health and hygiene (VHHQ total score) was followed by less voice symptoms, which represents lower scores in the VoiSS total score and, in emotional domain, and it was only perceived voice handicap (VHI-10 total score) in the NCG. There was no difference in knowledge of vocal health and hygiene among drama students with and without vocal complaints. However, drama students with vocal complaints presented more voice symptoms and reported greater perception of voice handicap, which was negatively correlated with knowledge of vocal health and hygiene.
Highlights
Theater actors often have to work in inadequate environmental, acoustic, physical and psychological conditions, such as: presence of dust or mold where the rehearsal and performance takes place, no sound amplification, uncomfortable clothing and use of other equipment
Some theater actors have complaints related to voice use, which is possibly due to vocal abuse and unawareness of vocal health, which are observed since the beginning of their career(3)
The literature shows lack of knowledge of vocal health and hygiene in some Brazilian drama students, to the best of our knowledge, there are no studies that analyzed if there is any difference between students with and without vocal complaints regarding their knowledge of vocal health and hygiene, presence of voice symptoms and voice handicap
Summary
Theater actors often have to work in inadequate environmental, acoustic, physical and psychological conditions, such as: presence of dust or mold where the rehearsal and performance takes place, no sound amplification, uncomfortable clothing and use of other equipment. These conditions may cause allergies and limit body and facial movements, shoulder girdle and mandibular movements, which will compromise the vocal quality. The statement “the show must go on”, that is, nothing can stop the show from happening, leads the actor to work even under adverse conditions, this can impact his overall health and lead to laryngeal changes(1). Muscular tension due to the fast-changing dynamics of a gentle and delicate movement to a violent and grotesque movement added to the lack of knowledge of their body’s capabilities leads to health problems(2)
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