Prevalence of Voice Symptoms and Risk Factors in Teacher Students

Abstract

Teacher students seem to have low awareness of the vocal demands in their future professions, and students with vocal symptoms are at risk for developing voice disorders during their professional careers. The purpose of the present study was to determine the prevalence of voice problems in teacher students at the very beginning of their education at the university. Of 1636 students approached in the first couple of days, 1250 (76%) answered two questionnaires about voice symptoms, Screen6 and Swedish Voice Handicap Index (Sw-VHI), and one questionnaire about potential risk factors. A majority of the students were women, and their mean age was 23 years (range, 18-52 years). The results showed that 208 of 1250 students (17%) had voice problems, defined as at least two symptoms weekly or more often in Screen6. The proportion of women was larger in the group with voice problems than in the group without voice problems. Significant risk factors for voice problems were vocal fold problems in childhood and adulthood, frequent throat infections, airborne allergy, smoking, hearing problems, previous work as teacher or leader, voice demanding hobbies, and previous speech therapy or voice training. There was a clear association between the number of potential vocal risk factors and the number of voice symptoms. There was also a strong association between the scores of the two questionnaires, the Sw-VHI and the Screen6. Students with voice problems according to Screen6 scored 23.1 (mean Sw-VHI) compared with 7.8 for students without voice problems.