Effects of a Voice Training Program on Acoustics, Vocal Use, and Perceptual Voice Parameters in Catalan Teachers.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the effect of EVES (Education for a Healthy and Efficient Voice), a voice training program aimed at promoting the use of an efficient and healthy voice in teachers. SAMPLE AND METHOD: Twenty-two teachers in the city of Granollers (Catalonia, Spain) were included in this research. The effect of the EVES program was evaluated focusing on the analysis of physiologic parameters on the one side (stroboscopy analysis), and on perceptual parameters on the other (Q-EVES questionnaire, Voice Handicap Index-10 [VHI-10], and GRBAS [Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain Scale]). RESULTS: The teachers incorporated the vocal strategies in their professional life and reported that the perception of difficulty in using their voice decreased. We observed a significant improvement in VHI-10 markers, in voice management abilities in the classroom, in perceptive and subjective voice parameters, and in some functional lesions. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the educational intervention model may have a positive effect on teachers' vocal care.

The impact of the reactivity to stress in teachers with voice problems.

AIMS: One of the objectives of our study on voice and vocal health was to find out whether there is a relation between the reactivity to stress and voice problems in teachers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For this, we used a sample of 447 individuals amongst future teachers and teachers in active service, since they form a group with both a high index of voice problems and stress. In order to gather the necessary information for the study, we applied the Voice Handicap Index and the 'índice de reactividad al estrés' (IRE; Stress Reactivity Index). RESULTS: The results indicate that those individuals with voice problems have a greater reactivity to stress. It was observed that some items of the IRE show a relatively great difference between the groups with and without voice problems. The majority of these items concern vegetative signs that are linked to aspects of voice emission. CONCLUSION: Reactivity to stress is a useful factor to bear in mind in teachers with voice problems.