Voice Self-Assessment of Teachers at Santa Maria City/RS, Brazil

Introduction: This research complements the few studies on the vocal health of teachers, considering that it is affected by many disorders throughout the profession and plays the role of mediator in the teaching-learning process.

Objectives: This study aims to describe and correlate the voice handicap index, quality of life, vocal symptoms, sex, vocal complaints, and professional characteristics of teachers in Santa Maria city (RS/Brazil).

Methods: It was applied the Voice Symptom Scale (VoiSS), Voice Handicap Index (VHI), e Voice-Related Quality of Life (VRQL), and a questionnaire containing data identification, overall health, and occupational and vocal complaints in 102 women and 12 men aged 20 to 66 years.

Results: The teachers worked on average 6.96 hours a day, there are on average 12.7 years, 72.8% had vocal complaints, and 50% belonged to the private school network, 37.7% to the state network, and 12.3% to the municipal network. There was an association between voice self-assessment scales and presence of vocal complaints, but there was no correlation with age and professional characteristics. Women had a higher occurrence of vocal symptoms. The VoiSS and the VHI showed positive correlation and negative correlation of both protocols in relation to VRQL.

Conclusion: The analyzed group features contrasting vocal complaints with a good quality of life related to voice, existing correlation between complaints and vocal symptoms, as well as greater voice handicap index and lower quality of life in voice, with a higher occurrence of vocal symptoms in females. The VoiSS and VHI proved to be complementary.

Keywords: faculty, quality of life, occupation health, voice.