Tahamtan Mahdi, Kakavandi Ali, Scherer Ronald C, Vahedi Mohsen
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, College of Health and Human Services, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio.
Student Research Committee, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
J Voice. 2023 Jan;37(1):68-78. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2020.11.009. Epub 2021 Jan 15.
The vocal tract discomfort scale is a self-rating seven-point Likert scale that quantifies frequency and severity of eight qualitative descriptors including burning, tight, dry, aching, tickling, sore, irritable, and lump in the throat, and ranges from 0 (never/none) to 6 (always/extreme; Mathieson et al. 2009). The objectives of the current study were to compare the vocal tract discomfort scale results between elementary school teachers and high school teachers and between male and female teachers using the Persian vocal tract discomfort scale. Also, teachers in different age ranges and with different experiences were compared regarding vocal tract discomfort symptoms.
The researchers chose 20 elementary and high schools by simple random sampling in Khorramabad, Iran. The survey was given to available teachers of the selected schools. Considering the inclusion criteria, required sample size, and after excluding questionnaires that were not correctly answered, 120 were selected such that 30 were chosen for each subgroup. Subjects consisted of 60 elementary school teachers (30 females and 30 males) with the mean age of 40.92 years (standard deviation = 6.07) and 60 high school teachers (30 females and 30 males) with the mean age of 40.67 years (standard deviation = 6.00). SPSS 25 was used for analyzing the data.
Results indicated that the frequency and severity of the vocal tract discomfort in elementary school teachers were significantly higher than for the high school teachers with a medium to large effect size. Although the frequency and severity of the symptoms were higher in female compared with male teachers, those differences were not significantly different. Younger teachers had lower frequency and severity ratings of vocal tract discomfort symptoms than older teachers. Teaching experience was not an important factor in predicting vocal tract discomfort symptoms in teachers.
The results of this study suggest that there is higher frequency, greater severity, and higher percentages of vocal tract discomfort symptoms in elementary compared with high school teachers. In addition, although the mean frequency and severity of vocal tract discomfort symptoms were not significantly different between females and males, females reported higher percentages of the symptoms. Because each of the eight vocal tract symptoms was experienced at the time of testing by between 42% (tightness) and 68% (dryness) of the participants, it is suggested that an educational program regarding vocal tract discomfort may be helpful for this profession.
声道不适量表是一种自评七点李克特量表，用于量化包括灼痛、紧绷、干燥、酸痛、瘙痒、疼痛、易怒和喉咙有异物感在内的八个定性描述词的出现频率和严重程度，范围从0（从不/无）到6（总是/极其严重；马西森等人，2009年）。本研究的目的是使用波斯语声道不适量表比较小学教师和高中教师之间以及男性和女性教师之间的声道不适量表结果。此外，还比较了不同年龄范围和不同教学经验的教师的声道不适症状。
研究人员在伊朗霍拉马巴德通过简单随机抽样选择了20所小学和高中。对所选学校的在职教师进行了调查。考虑到纳入标准、所需样本量，并在排除回答不正确的问卷后，选取了120名教师，每个亚组30名。受试者包括60名小学教师（30名女性和30名男性），平均年龄为40.92岁（标准差=6.07）和60名高中教师（30名女性和30名男性），平均年龄为40.67岁（标准差=6.00）。使用SPSS 25对数据进行分析。
结果表明，小学教师声道不适的频率和严重程度显著高于高中教师，效应量为中等至较大。虽然女性教师症状的频率和严重程度高于男性教师，但这些差异并不显著。年轻教师声道不适症状的频率和严重程度评分低于年长教师。教学经验不是预测教师声道不适症状的重要因素。
本研究结果表明，与高中教师相比，小学教师声道不适症状的出现频率更高、严重程度更大、百分比更高。此外，虽然声道不适症状的平均频率和严重程度在女性和男性之间没有显著差异，但女性报告的症状百分比更高。由于在测试时，8种声道症状中的每一种都有42%（紧绷感）至68%（干燥感）的参与者出现，因此建议开展一项关于声道不适的教育项目可能对该职业有所帮助。
