Is remote and distance teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic related to the university professors' weight gain, body mass index changes, hearing complaints, and self-perception of voice?

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT Purpose: to verify the impact of weight and BMI (Body Mass Index) changes on auditory and vocal symptoms in university professors, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: the symptoms were assessed with a semi-structured questionnaire developed on Google Forms, to which the consent form was appended. It comprised 27 questions related to symptoms, changes, and health, during the pandemic - specifically, vocal and auditory symptoms, anthropometric factors, vocal parameters, physical activity, neck pain, and comorbidities. The Mann-Whitney and Chi-square test were used to identify differences or associations between variables (95% CI; P < 0.05). Results: altogether, 74 professors who comprise the faculty of the undergraduate program at the institution where the research was conducted were assessed. Significant differences were found between those with auditory symptoms (G1 worsened hearing; G2 unchanged hearing) regarding BMI, in which G1 had higher values; and sleep, in which G1 slept fewer hours. The chi-square test showed an association between the groups and BMI classification - those with worsened hearing (G1) were more overweight and their sleeping hours were more affected. There was also an association between the groups and voice change, headphone use (mainly in-ear) during classes, dizziness or vertigo episodes, tinnitus episodes and headache. Conclusion:this study revealed an association between worsened hearing, sleep, and BMI in university professors due to remote and distance teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic.