Speech pathologist students

voice self-assessment, vocal symptoms and phonatory deviation diagram

Abstract

Introduction: speech therapists must present their voices as a model for a speech therapy intervention. Objective: to understand the voice self-assessment and vocal symptoms of a group of speech therapy students, relating the findings to the phonatory deviation diagram. Method: an analytical observational study was conducted with 88 speech therapy students from the same college, consisting of 82 women and 6 men, averaging 21.9 years old, who reported no diagnosis of dysphonia, and self-reported as healthy. Data relating to voice self-assessment and vocal symptoms were recorded and compared, using the Vocal Symptoms Scale (VoiSS). In the second stage, students were invited to perform an acoustic analysis of their voices and those who accepted (63.6%) proceeded with the collection of voice samples, using the VoxMetria® – CTS program. To process the data, the T-student Test and Correlation Matrix constructed with the results of the T-student Test (confidence level of 95%, alpha 5%) were used. Results: The Vocal Symptoms Scale (student T-test) revealed 44.31% of participants with raw scores equal to or greater than 16 points, indicating vocal risk and greater impairment of the physical domain. Final year students obtained higher scores, with a predominance of secretion and throat clearing. There was a positive correlation between smoking (7.95%) and an increase in the final grade. The acoustic analysis revealed 40% of the voices with a phonatory deviation diagram outside the quadrant of normal voices, voice irregularity, altered jitter, and shimmer. Conclusion: The combination of the two instruments used to understand the risk of dysphonia in speech therapy students is relevant and reinforces the importance of vocal health prevention programs for future speech therapists.