[en] Purpose: Although a global picture exists of teachers’ voice demands in general, few studies have compared specific groups of teachers to determine whether some are more at risk than others. This study compared vocal loading of kindergarten and elementary school teachers; professional and non-professional vocal load was determined for both groups.
Method: Twelve kindergarten and twenty elementary school female teachers without voice problems were monitored during one workweek using the Ambulatory Phonation Monitor. Vocal loading parameters analyzed were F0, SPL, time dose, distance dose and cycle dose.
Results: Comparisons between the groups showed significantly higher cycle dose and distance dose for kindergarten teachers than for elementary school teachers, in both professional and non-professional environments. Professional and non-professional voice use comparisons showed significant differences for all parameters, indicating that vocal load was higher in the professional environment for both groups.
Conclusions: The higher vocal doses measured in kindergarten teachers suggest that particular attention should be paid to this specific group of teachers. Although non-professional vocal load is lower than professional vocal load, it is important to take both into account because of their cumulative effects.
Disciplines :
Otolaryngology Public health, health care sciences & services
Author, co-author :
Remacle, Angélique ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Psychologie : cognition et comportement > Logopédie des troubles de la voix
Morsomme, Dominique ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Psychologie : cognition et comportement > Logopédie des troubles de la voix
FINCK, Camille ; Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liège - CHU > O.R.L.
Language :
English
Title :
Comparison of vocal loading parameters in kindergarten and elementary school teachers
Publication date :
April 2014
Journal title :
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
ISSN :
1092-4388
eISSN :
1558-9102
Publisher :
American Speech Language Hearing Association, Rockville, United States - Maryland
Airo, E., Olkinuora, P., & Sala, E. (2000). A method to measure speaking time and speech sound pressure level. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopedica, 52, 275-288.
Batty, S. V., Howard, D. M., Garner, P. E., Turner, P., & White, A. D. (2002). Clinical pilot study assessment of a portable real-time voice analyser. Logopedics, Phoniatrics, Vocology, 27, 59-62.
Bottalico, P., & Astolfi, A. (2012). Investigations into vocal doses and parameters pertaining to primary school teachers in classrooms. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 131, 2817-2827.
Buekers, R., Bierens, E., Kingma, H., & Marres, E. H. (1995). Vocal load as measured by the voice accumulator. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopedica, 47, 252-261.
Carroll, T., Nix, J., Hunter, E. J., Emerich, K., Titze, I. R., & Abaza, M. (2006). Objective measurement of vocal fatigue in classical singers: A vocal dosimetry pilot study. Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, 135, 595-602.
Cheyne, H. A., Hanson, H. M., Genereux, R. P., Stevens, K. N., & Hillman, R. E. (2003). Development and testing of a portable vocal accumulator. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 46, 1457-1467.
Epstein, R., Remacle, A., & Morsomme, D. (2011). From reactive intervention to proactive prevention: The evolution of occupational dysphonia. Perspectives on Voice and Voice Disorders, 21, 48-55. doi:10.1044/vvd21.2.48
Etnic. (2011). Les indicateurs de l'enseignement 2011 [The education indicators 2011]. Retrieved from www.enseignement.be
Fritzell, B. (1996). Voice disorders and occupations. Logopedics, Phoniatrics, Vocology, 21, 7-21.
Gaskill, C. S., O'Brien, S. G., & Tinter, S. R. (2012). The effect of voice amplification on occupational vocal dose in elementary school teachers. Journal of Voice, 26, 667.e619-667.e627. doi:10.1016/j.jvoice.2011.10.010
Gramming, P., Sundberg, J., Ternström, S., Leanderson, R., & Perkins, W. (1988). Relationship between changes in voice pitch and loudness. Journal of Voice, 2, 118-126.
Granqvist, S. (2003). The self-to-other ratio applied as a phonation detector for voice accumulation. Logopedics, Phoniatrics, Vocology, 28, 71-80.
Hillman, R. E., Heaton, J. T., Masaki, A., Zeitels, S. M., & Cheyne, H. A. (2006). Ambulatory monitoring of disordered voices. Annals of Otology, Rhinology, and Laryngology, 115, 795-801.
Hillman, R. E., & Mehta, D. D. (2011). Ambulatory monitoring of daily voice use. Perspectives on Voice and Voice Disorders, 21, 56-61.
Hunter, E. J. (2012). Teacher response to ambulatory monitoring of voice. Logopedics, Phoniatrics, Vocology, 37, 133-135.
Hunter, E. J., & Titze, I. R. (2010). Variations in intensity, fundamental frequency, and voicing for teachers in occupational versus nonoccupational settings. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 53, 862-875.
Jacobson, B. H., Johnson, A., Grywalski, C., Silbergleit, A., Jacobson, G., Benninger, M. S., & Newman, C. W. (1997). The Voice Handicap Index (VHI): Development and validation. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 6, 66-70.
Laukkanen, A.-M., Ilomaki, I., Leppanen, K., & Vilkman, E. (2008). Acoustic measures and self-reports of vocal fatigue by female teachers. Journal of Voice, 22, 283-289.
Lindstrom, F., Ohlsson, A.-C., Sjöholm, J., & Waye, K. P. (2010). Mean F0 values obtained through standard phrase pronunciation compared with values obtained from the normal work environment: A study on teacher and child voices performed in a preschool environment. Journal of Voice, 24, 319-323.
Lindstrom, F., Ren, K., Li, H., & Waye, K. P. (2009). Comparison of two methods of voice activity detection in field studies. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 52, 1658-1663.
Lindstrom, F., Waye, K. P., Sodersten, M., McAllister, A., & Ternström, S. (2011). Observations of the relationship between noise exposure and preschool teacher voice usage in day care center environments. Journal of Voice, 25, 166-172.
Masuda, T., Ikeda, Y., Manako, H., & Komiyama, S. (1993). Analysis of vocal abuse: Fluctuations in phonation time and intensity in 4 groups of speakers. Acta Oto-Laryngologica, 113, 547-552.
Morrow, S. L., & Connor, N. P. (2011a). Comparison of voice-use profiles between elementary classroom and music teachers. Journal of Voice, 25, 367-372.
Morrow, S. L., & Connor, N. P. (2011b). Voice amplification as a means of reducing vocal load for elementary music teachers. Journal of Voice, 25, 441-446.
Nix, J., Svec, J. G., Laukkanen, A.-M., & Titze, I. R. (2007). Protocol challenges for on-the-job voice dosimetry of teachers in the United States and Finland. Journal of Voice, 21(4), 385-396.
Popolo, P. S., Rogge-Miller, K., Svec, J. G., & Titze, I. R. (2002). Technical considerations in the design of a wearable voice dosimeter [The National Center for Voice & Speech Online Technical Memo 5, Version 1.1]. Retrieved from www.ncvs.org
Popolo, P. S., Svec, J. G., Hunter, E. J., Starr, A. C., Rogge-Miller, K., Nix, J., & Titze, I. R. (2004). Teachers' guide to voice dosimetry [The National Center for Voice & Speech Online Technical Memo 4]. Retrieved from www.ncvs.org
Popolo, P. S., Svec, J. G., & Titze, I. R. (2005). Adaptation of a pocket PC for use as a wearable voice dosimeter. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 48, 780-791.
Preciado, J. A., Garcia Tapia, R., & Infante, J. C. (1998). Prevalence of voice disorders among educational professionals: Factors contributing to their appearance or their persistence. Acta Otorrinolaringológica Española, 49, 137-142.
Rantala, L., & Vilkman, E. (1999). Relationship between subjective voice complaints and acoustic parameters in female teachers' voices. Journal of Voice, 13, 484-495.
Remacle, A., Finck, C., Roche, A., & Morsomme, D. (2012). Vocal impact of a prolonged reading task at two intensity levels: Objective measurements and subjective self-ratings. Journal of Voice, 26, 177-186. doi:10.1016/j.jvoice.2011.07.016
Roy, N., Merrill, R. M., Thibeault, S., Gray, S. D., & Smith, E. M. (2004). Voice disorders in teachers and the general population: Effects on work performance, attendance, and future career choices. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47, 542-551.
Russell, A., Oates, J., & Greenwood, K. M. (1998). Prevalence of voice problems in teachers. Journal of Voice, 12, 467-479.
Ryu, S., Komiyama, S., Kannae, S., & Watanabe, H. (1983). A newly devised speech accumulator. Journal for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology and Its Related Specialties, 45, 108-114.
Sala, E., Airo, E., Olkinuora, P., Simberg, S., Strom, U., Laine, A, Suonpaa, J. (2002). Vocal loading among day care center teachers. Logopedics, Phoniatrics, Vocology, 27, 21-28.
Sala, E., Laine, A., Simberg, S., Pentti, J., & Suonpaa, J. (2001). The prevalence of voice disorders among day care center teachers compared with nurses: A questionnaire and clinical study. Journal of Voice, 15, 413-423.
Smith, E., Gray, S. D., Dove, H., Kirchner, L., & Heras, H. (1997). Frequency and effects of teachers' voice problems. Journal of Voice, 11, 81-87.
Sodersten, M., Granqvist, S., Hammarberg, B., & Szabo, A. (2002). Vocal behavior and vocal loading factors for preschool teachers at work studied with binaural DAT recordings. Journal of Voice, 16, 356-371.
Sodersten, M., Ternstrom, S., & Bohman, M. (2005). Loud speech in realistic environmental noise: Phonetogram data, perceptual voice quality, subjective ratings, and gender differences in healthy speakers. Journal of Voice, 19, 29-46.
Svec, J. G., Popolo, P. S., & Titze, I. R. (2003). Measurement of vocal doses in speech: Experimental procedure and signal processing. Logopedics, Phoniatrics, Vocology, 28, 181-192.
Svec, J. G., Titze, I. R., & Popolo, P. S. (2003). Vocal dosimetry: Theoretical and practical issues. In G. Schade, F. Müller, T. Wittenberg, & M. Hess (Eds.), Proceedings for the conference Advances in Quantitative Laryngology, Voice and Speech Research (pp. 1-8). Stuttgart, Germany: IRB Verlag.
Szabo, A., Hammarberg, B., Håkansson, A., & Södersten, M. (2001). A voice accumulator device: Evaluation based on studio and field recordings. Logopedics, Phoniatrics, Vocology, 26, 102-117.
Titze, I. R., Hunter, E. J., & Svec, J. G. (2007). Voicing and silence periods in daily and weekly vocalizations of teachers. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 121, 469-478.
Titze, I. R., Svec, J. G., & Popolo, P. S. (2003). Vocal dose measures: Quantifying accumulated vibration exposure in vocal fold tissues. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 46, 919-932.
Vilkman, E. (2000). Voice problems at work: A challenge for occupational safety and health arrangement. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopedica, 52, 120-125.
Villanueva-Reyes, A. (2011). Voice disorders in the metropolitan area of San Juan, Puerto Rico: Profiles of occupational groups. Journal of Voice, 25, 83-87.
Ward, A., & Litman, D. (2007, October 1-3). Automatically measuring lexical and acoustic/prosodic convergence in tutorial dialog corpora. Proceedings of the SLaTE Workshop on Speech and Language Technology in Education (ISCA Tutorial and Research Workshop). Retrieved from www.isca-speech.org/archive
Woisard, V., Bodin, S., & Puech, M. (2004). The voice handicap index: Impact of the translation in French on the validation. Revue de Laryngologie Otologie Rhinologie, 125, 307-312.
