PURPOSE: To assess the sensitivity of the Italian self-assessment questionnaire Modern Singing Handicap Index - MSHI, translated and culturally adapted to Brazilian Portuguese as Índice de Desvantagem para o Canto Moderno - IDCM, comparing scores of amateur choir singers with or without voice complaints and non-singers according to gender, singing voice classification and singing activities. METHODS: Two hundred twenty-six adults with ages between 16 and 66 years were divided into three groups: 58 singers with vocal complaints - SC; 112 singers without vocal complaints - SwC and 56 non-singers without vocal complaints - NS. The singers were selected from five university choirs of a capella Brazilian popular music, lead by the same conductor. The non-singers were recruited at the same institutions of the singers with similar demographic characteristics. The subjects filled the IDCM individually. The IDCM is a questionnaire with 30 items divided into three subscales: disability (functional domain), handicap (emotional domain) and impairment (organic domain). The singers also did a self-assessment of their singing activities. RESULTS: The mean IDCM score of the SC group (26.91) was higher than the that of the SwC (16.61), and both were higher than that of the NS group (7.79). For the three groups, the impairment subscale showed higher scores, followed by disability and handicap. There were no score differences regarding gender, singing voice classification and singing activities. CONCLUSION: The questionnaire proved to be sensitive for modern singers with vocal complaints. Choir singers with vocal complaints had higher self-reported handicap in comparison to choir singers without vocal complaints and non-singers. Aspects of organic nature were highlighted with larger deviations.
Voice; Quality of life; Evaluation studies; Protocols; Music; Occupational health; Questionnaires
