ABSTRACT
Objective:
to verify the effects of the phonation exercise in a commercial straw on the voice of teachers.
Methods:
a blind intervention study with a single group of teachers. The participants were asked to perform the phonation exercise in a straw immersed in a bottle with water at the beginning of the work shift, for four consecutive weeks. The parameter “overall severity” of the Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-V) for the perceptual-auditory evaluation, the Screening Index for Voice Disorder (SIVD) and the self-reported vocal effects were used in the comparison between the pre- and post-intervention moments.
Results:
the mean age of the teachers was 45.28 (± 8.48) years, ranging from 30 to 58 years old. The majority of the teachers were females (79.3%). The frequency of self-reported vocal changes was 58.6%. There was a decrease in the mean CAPE-V and SIVD scores in the comparison before and after the intervention with a statistical significance (p <0.05). In the post-intervention, the most frequent self-reported effects occurred were “voice improvement” and “less fatigue” (both with 37.9%).
Conclusion:
exercise with a commercial straw promoted improvement in the teachers’ voices and self-reported beneficial effects and can be used as a protective measure.
Keywords:
Teachers; Voice; Voice Training; Workers’ Health; Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences