Teacher’s voice: predisposing factors for the well-being vocal

Abstract

Introduction: In the fi eld of Speech-Language Pathology, many studies have been focusing on the voice of teachers, in order to propose actions in health promotion and/or prevention of voice disorders. Aim: Raise teachers’ knowledge about risk factors for the vocal well-being, and check the use of practices that favor the vocal well-being, according to the number of years of teaching. Material and Method: The sample of this cross-sectional study was composed by 242 teachers of the public school system of the city of Jataí-GO, who, before an educational workshop watched a specifi c video about teachers’ voice, and fi lled out an instrument composed of six questions about vocal health, habits and vocal exercises. The answers to two questions (new information and habits) were considered and analyzed (chi-square test), according to years of teaching. Results: The considered data regarded new information not put into practice by the teachers, the information that concerned vocal warm-up and cool-down. Among the information known and practiced by the teachers deleterious habits to the voice that were used (specking loudly, speaking excessively, coughing) were highlighted. There was no difference in the association of years of teaching and most aspects (with exception of ‘yawning’). Conclusion: The answers indicated that even knowing about deleterious factors to vocal well-being, these continue to be a part of the teachers’ routine and habits. This fact should alert Speech-Language Pathologists in conducting their practices with this professional category.