ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To map the volitional and non-volitional devices used by speech and language pathologists (SLPs) in voice training and therapy and characterize their use in research on voice interventions. METHODS: This scoping review is the first part of a larger study. The electronic search was carried out by mapping the references in PubMed/Medline, LILACS/BVS, Scopus, Web of Science, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library, and the manual search was carried out in the grey literature. Two blind independent reviewers selected and extracted data; divergences were solved by consensus. The data extracted in this part of the study were the authorship and year of publication, country, study design, sample characteristics, intervention modality, ingredient, target, mechanism of action, dosage, and outcome measures. They were addressed with descriptive analysis. RESULTS: Publications that use devices as ingredients are mostly from the last two decades, mainly carried out in the United States of America and Brazil, in adults of both sexes with behavioral dysphonia. Forty-two types of devices were used, many of them with similar approaches but different nomenclatures. Most devices were used voluntarily, focusing on vocal function, and aiming to increase source and filter interaction. Most studies used silicone tubes. The most reported technical specification to apply the ingredient was surface electrodes on the neck. Device dosage was time-controlled, and the most used outcomes were self-assessment and acoustic analysis. CONCLUSION: Devices are currently used as ingredients in vocal interventions, with a greater focus on increasing the source and filter interaction, associated with silicone tubes (the most used devices in these studies), which have been dosed with performance time. Outcomes were measured with self-assessment instruments.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To identify the presence of vocal fatigue and dysphonia risk in evangelical pastors and to verify associations of vocal fatigue with dysphonia risk and other factors. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional observational study. METHODS: Ninety-two evangelical pastors, professionally active, answered an on-line questionnaire divided in three steps. The first step consisted of data for the characterization of the sample. In the second stage, participants answered the vocal fatigue index questionnaire (VFI). Finally, they answered to the Brazilian Dysphonia Screening tool. A descriptive analysis of the data was performed along with Spearman's Correlation test between VFI factors and the three possible decision rules for the Brazilian Dysphonia Screening tool. A linear regression model was designed to verify predictive variables associated with the outcome "vocal fatigue". RESULTS: Ninety male individuals were included. The average sample was off the threshold scores of tiredness and voice impairment, physical discomfort, improvement of voice symptoms with rest, and the total score of VFI. The dysphonia risk was low and was weakly negatively correlated with the improvement of voice symptoms with rest. The linear regression indicated that the presence of a current vocal complaint increases about four points in the VFI. CONCLUSION: Evangelical pastors present symptomatology of vocal fatigue and low risk for dysphonia. However, the greater the improvement of voice symptoms with rest, the lower the risk for dysphonia. Furthermore, the presence of a current vocal complaint is associated with increased symptoms of vocal fatigue.
