Cantor-Cutiva Lady Catherine, Acevedo Karol, Guzman Marco, Gonzalez Juan Carlos, Cerda Sandoval Felipe Enrique, Smith Catalina, Behm Isidora, Hunter Eric
Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA.
Escuela de Fonoaudiología, Facultad de Odontología y Ciencias de la Rehabilitación, Universidad San Sebastián, Santiago, Chile.
J Commun Disord. 2025 Jun 26;117:106544. doi: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2025.106544.
Teaching is identified as a high-risk profession for developing voice disorders due to the significant vocal demands placed on educators. This can lead to symptoms such as vocal fatigue, adversely affecting their quality of life. One common intervention is the provision of voice amplification systems, which have been reported to reduce vocal strain by enabling teachers to speak at lower volumes, thereby potentially improving voice quality and minimizing vocal fold damage. Despite these benefits, various factors such as adoption rates, technical issues, and the need for proper use and training can influence the effectiveness of these systems. This study systematically reviews the literature and conducts a meta-analysis to determine the impact of voice amplification on teachers' vocal function.
The results reported in this manuscript are based on a bibliometric analysis and systematic literature review using seven databases, selecting 20 relevant publications from an initial pool of 462, and performing a meta-analysis to compare vocal metrics with and without amplification.
The meta-analysis indicated that voice amplification systems tend to positively affect fundamental frequency, sound pressure level (SPL), and phonation time percentage; however, these effects were not statistically significant. The analysis also suggests no significant publication bias, though the quality of the included publications varied: 15 % were rated as strong, 25 % as moderate, and 60 % as weak.
The study concludes that voice amplification systems show potential benefits for teachers' vocal health. However, their implementation should be part of a broader strategy that includes education, training, and regular monitoring to maximize their effectiveness.
由于教育工作者的嗓音需求巨大，教学被视为易患嗓音疾病的高风险职业。这可能导致嗓音疲劳等症状，对他们的生活质量产生不利影响。一种常见的干预措施是提供扩音系统，据报道，扩音系统可使教师以较低音量说话，从而减轻嗓音负担，进而有可能改善嗓音质量并减少声带损伤。尽管有这些益处，但诸如采用率、技术问题以及正确使用和培训的必要性等各种因素会影响这些系统的有效性。本研究系统地回顾了文献并进行荟萃分析，以确定扩音对教师嗓音功能的影响。
本手稿中报告的结果基于文献计量分析和系统文献回顾，使用了七个数据库，从最初的462篇文献中筛选出20篇相关出版物，并进行荟萃分析以比较有无扩音情况下的嗓音指标。
荟萃分析表明，扩音系统往往对基频、声压级（SPL）和发声时间百分比有积极影响；然而，这些影响在统计学上并不显著。分析还表明不存在明显的发表偏倚，尽管所纳入出版物的质量各不相同：15%被评为高质量，25%为中等质量，60%为低质量。
该研究得出结论，扩音系统对教师的嗓音健康显示出潜在益处。然而，其实施应成为包括教育、培训和定期监测在内的更广泛策略的一部分，以最大限度地提高其有效性。
