ABSTRACT
Purpose:
to analyze the association between voice disorder and work ability in teachers of public schools of São Paulo.
Methods:
teachers who searched for speech therapy, with voice alteration complaint; and selected teachers with no complaint who were exposed to the work environment and submitted to the auditory voice perception; completing the Work Ability Index and the Conditions of Vocal Production of Teachers protocols; and perceptive visual larynx evaluation. Those with changes in perceptual evaluation and vocal folds were classified as Case (167) and those without changes in evaluations (105) were classified as Control.
Results:
the work ability was from low to moderate among the cases (67.4%) and between good and great (66.6%) in the control teachers (total score). There was a statistical association in two WAI dimensions, pointing out that teachers with voice disorders were nearly three times more likely to lose their work ability and the worst the loss of ability, the stronger is the association with the voice disorder.
Conclusion:
there is an association between the voice disorder and the dimensions for current work ability compared with the best of lifetime, indicating that subjects who had a voice disorder were at their worst conditions regarding their work ability, and estimated loss for work due to illnesses, indicating that the greater the loss of work ability, the stronger is the relationship with the voice disorder, regardless of age.
Keywords:
Voice Disorder; Faculty; Work Ability Evaluation; Work; Voice; Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences
