Voice-related symptoms and their production and self-perception vocal after treatment speech therapy: prospective study

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate vocal and / or proprioceptive symptoms and self-perception of voice in teachers who completed the speech therapy. Material And Methods: 39 patients attending the service from August 2007 to December 2008 were interviewed. The interview followed a script beforehand elaborated to identify the presence of symptoms related to use of voice and vocal self-perception after speech therapy discharge. In parallel, the following data were collected: gender, age, education, months of teaching experience, type of dysphonia, duration of treatment and date of discharge. Results: Of the 39 teachers studied, 36 were females and three were males aged between 23 and 57 years. The duration of treatment ranged from one to eight months and the number of sessions from three to 21. The period since discharge ranged from one to 18 months (mean 7.6, SD 5.36), and it was less than six months in 23 cases (58.9%). Regarding the type of dysphonia identified at baseline, 20 patients had functional dysphonia and 19 organofunctional dysphonia. The results showed that 35 patients (89.7%) did not report negative vocal and / or proprioceptive symptoms after speech terapy discharge. About vocal selfperception after discharge, 38 patients (97.4%) had a positive self-perception and only one case (2.5%) had a low satisfaction with his/her voice. Conclusion: The speech therapy helps to maintain the standard of voice and a healthy vocal behavior.