ABSTRACT
This study aimed to perform a literature review about the vocal doses and the behavior of these measurements in different communicative situations. A review on MEDLINE, LILACS, IBECS and ISI Web of Science databases of the literature written in English, Spanish and Portuguese, within the past twenty-one years, of articles which were fully available, was performed. Fifteen studies met the set criteria. The majority of the articles studied teachers, since they belong to a vulnerable group for dysphonia. The doses found were phonation percentage, time dose, cycle dose, distance dose, energy dissipation dose and radiated energy dose. The vocal dose increase is associated with an excessive and prolonged voice use in teaching activity, especially when teaching young children and teaching music. The high vocal doses are also associated with the presence of dysphonia, the background noise, the large prosodic variation in speech and the self-perception of vocal fatigue. Patients with behavioral dysphonia (nodes and polyps) present higher vocal doses than patients with other types of dysphonia. Factors such as voice rest and use of voice amplifiers indicate a decrease of vocal dose.
Keywords:
Dosage; Voice; Dysphonia; Voice Disorders; Vocal Cords