Vocal dose in teachers: correlation with dysphonia.

Ana Cristina Côrtes Gama,Elisângela De Fátima Pereira Pedra,Juliana Nunes Santos,Max De Castro Magalhães,Alessandra Terra Vasconcelos Rabelo,Estevam Barbosa De Las Casas

doi:10.1590/2317-1782/20162015156

Ana Cristina Côrtes Gama, Elisângela De Fátima Pereira Pedra + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/2317-1782/20162015156

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Journal: CoDAS	Publication Date: Apr 1, 2016
Citations: 14	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

Abstract

Teachers are professionals with high prevalence of dysphonia, whose main risk factors are the large work hours in classrooms with the presence of background noise. The purpose of the study was to calculate the phonation time and the cycle dose of teachers with dysphonia and teachers without voice disorders during the class. There were two groups analyzed: five teachers with functional dysphonia were the first group and five teachers without voice disorders were the second group. For the data was used the VoxLog® dosimeter and the parameters were: intensity; fundamental frequency; phonation time and cycle dose. The statistical analysis used ANOVA, Student's T-test, and Kruskal-Wallis test. Dysphonic teachers showed major values of phonation time and cycle dose compared with teachers without voice disorders. The dysphonia is related to extended period of speech time and greater exposure of the tissue of the vocal fold to phonotrauma.

Highlights

Teachers are included in a professional category that presents high prevalence of dysphonia, and the literature describes the long working hours in inappropriate classrooms, with the presence of background noise and chalk dust as the main risk factors(1,2).The metrics of the vocal dose among teachers were analyzed in researches aimed at understanding the use of the voice in such professional category(3,4)
We selected two groups for the research: group of dysphonic teachers (G1) consisting of five women complaining of vocal alteration, diagnosed with functional dysphonia and the presence of median-posterior triangular glottic chink in the ENT examination, and aged 35 to 50 years (X= 45.2 years); and group of teachers without vocal complaints (G2), consisting of five women without complaints related to voice and voice alteration, analyzed by speech evaluation, and aged between 35 and 50 years (X = 43.8 years)
The phonation time and cycle dose were higher in the group of dysphonic teachers (G1) (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Teachers are included in a professional category that presents high prevalence of dysphonia, and the literature describes the long working hours in inappropriate classrooms, with the presence of background noise and chalk dust as the main risk factors(1,2). The metrics of the vocal dose among teachers were analyzed in researches aimed at understanding the use of the voice in such professional category(3,4). Authors concluded that teachers have twice the phonation time when compared with non-occupational voice users(3) and that the presence of dysphonia complaints increases teachers’ vocal dose(4). The dosimeter is a portable device that measures data related to the use of the voice, storing them for a certain period(5,6). The collection time of phonation data may vary, reaching up to 24 hours, and the data are collected by means of an accelerometer, which measures the vibration of the skin, and a microphone. The collected acoustic data are dependent on the equipment, but usually measure fundamental frequency (F0), vocal intensity, and vocal dose(7)

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