Perception of parents about the vocal behavior of children

Abstract

Objective: Verify the perception of parents about the behavior and vocal characteristics of school children, analyzed by sex. Methods: A cross-sectional study, conducted from May to November 2013, with 104 parents of school children, 8-12 years of age, Municipal Public School in southern Brazil, who answered the self-administered questionnaire about their perception of vocal behavior of children. Variables: age, gender, vocal habits, classification and voice changes. Statistical analysis was performed using the nonparametric tests Qui-Square of Pearson and Test Between Two Proportions, adopting a significance level of 5%. Results: In the perception of parents, students talk a lot (>65%) and high (>49%), watching television at high volume (>40%). The girls sing more (58.2 %), ingest more cold drinks (50.9%) and hear more sounds at high volume (27.3%), while boys have more frequent habit of cough (24.5%) with a significant difference (p< 0.05). The voice alteration was observed in about one third of the school children, and the most referred was of the high intensity of voice (>65 %), and when at a nervous moment (> 42%). Conclusion: We conclude that in the parental perception most scholars have normal voice, but with the habit of talking too much and loudly, and watching TV at high volume. In the case of voice alterations, the predominance was to speak loudly, especially when nervous. The girls have more habit of singing, ingesting cold drinks and listening to loud sounds while the boys often cough.