A Nonrandomized Trial for Student Teachers of an In-Person and Telepractice Global Voice Prevention and Therapy Model With Estill Voice Training Assessed by the VoiceEvalU8 App.

Purpose This study investigated the effects of the in-person and telepractice Global Voice Prevention and Therapy Model (GVPTM) treatment conditions and a control condition with vocally healthy student teachers. Method In this single-blinded, nonrandomized trial, 82 participants completed all aspects of the study. Estill Voice Training was used as the stimulability component of the GVPTM to train multiple new voices meeting all the vocal needs of the student teachers. Outcomes were assessed using acoustic, perceptual, and aerodynamic measures captured by the VoiceEvalU8 app at pre and post in fall and during student teaching in spring. Results Significant improvements were achieved for several acoustic and perceptual measures in the treatment conditions, but not in the control condition. The in-person and telepractice conditions produced similar results. The all-voiced phrase and connected speech were more successful in demonstrating voice change for some of the perturbation measures as compared to sustained /a/. Conclusions The treatment conditions were successful in improving the participants' voices for fundamental frequency and some acoustic perturbation measures while maintaining the improvements during student teaching. In addition, the treatment conditions were successful in decreasing the negative impact of voice-related quality of life and vocal fatigue during student teaching. Future research should address the effectiveness of the various components of the GVPTM, the application of the GVPTM with patients with voice disorders, the relevance of defining auditory-perceptual terms by the anatomy and physiology of the voice production system (i.e., Estill Voice Training), and the continued use of the VoiceEvalU8 app for clinical voice investigations. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.13626824.

Does the wearing of masks change voice and speech parameters?

PURPOSE: The authors aim to review available reports on the potential effects of masks on voice and speech parameters. METHODS: A literature search was conducted using MEDLINE and Google Scholar databases through July 2021. Several targeted populations, mask scenarios and methodologies were approached. The assessed voice parameters were divided into self-reported, acoustic and aerodynamic. RESULTS: It was observed that the wearing of a face mask has been shown to induce several changes in voice parameters: (1) self-reported-significantly increased vocal effort and fatigue, increased vocal tract discomfort and increased values of voice handicap index (VHI) were observed; (2) acoustics-increased voice intensity, altered formants frequency (F2 and F3) with no changes in fundamental frequency, increased harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR) and increased mean spectral values in high-frequency levels (1000-8000 Hz), especially with KN95 mask; (3) aerodynamics-maximum phonatory time was assessed in only two reports, and showed no alterations. CONCLUSION: Despite the different populations, mask-type scenarios and methodologies described by each study, the results of this review outline the significant changes in voice characteristics with the use of face masks. Wearing a mask shows to increase the perception of vocal effort and an alteration of the vocal tract length and speech articulatory movements, leading to spectral sound changes, impaired communication and perception. Studies analyzing the effect of masks on voice aerodynamics are lacking. Further research is required to study the long-term effects of face masks on the potential development of voice pathology.