Vocal Auto-analysis of the students of the course of theater

Abstract

Objective: To identify the perception that students of the course of theater of PUC Minas theater show in their own voices, identifying the symptoms and complaints, as well as their vocal habits. Methods: the Auto-Analysis Test of the voice was applied to 40 students of the course of theater of PUC Minas, in Belo Horizonte. This test contains 40 objective questions related to the knowledge of the own voice, vocal complaints, vocal and habit symptoms and a questionnaire with 7 objective questions related to the profi le of the students of the course of theater of PUC Minas and to the resources used to enhance voice. Results: The analysis of the profi le of these students pointed predominance of the female gender (70%), with average age of 27 years. A little more than the half of the students (52.5%) works, having diversifi ed professions. The majority of the theater students told that they attend the course of theater with the intention of being professionals in this area and that the most used resource to improve their voices is water ingestion. The Auto-Analysis Test of the voice showed that the marked items correspond to factors that predispose the occurrence of dysphonia. Conclusion: The theater students of PUC Minas have abusive vocal habits and don’t aknowledge ways to prevent vocal alterations, which shows that they are not conscious about vocal health, needing, therefore, orientation and awareness of the damages that can occur to their voices if some inadequate behaviors keep happening.