Assessment of Potential Risk Factors for Voice Disorders in Secondary School Teachers

Introduction: Almost all teachers encounter voice problems in their practice. Voice disorders can lead to limitations and, in some cases, complete loss of professional performance. Understanding the risk factors and prevalence of voice disorders is of great practical importance for developing recommendations for preserving the functions of the vocal apparatus.

 Objective: To develop an approach to assessing potential risk factors for voice disorders using secondary school teachers as an example.

 Materials and Methods: We conducted a survey of 61 schoolteachers from St. Petersburg using an anonymous questionnaire containing 38 questions. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Office Excel 2013 and Statistica 12.0.

 Results: Based on the example of secondary school teachers, we developed the approach to assessing potential risk factors for voice disorders that takes into account such contributors as 20 or more years of experience, teaching in a noisy environment, having less than 20-minute breaks between classes, the need to raise the voice, working with a sore throat, and having certain chronic diseases (diseases of the upper respiratory tract, allergies, diseases of the endocrine system, and/or gastroesophageal reflux).

 Conclusions: The risk-based approach to developing effective measures to prevent voice disorders in schoolteachers will help reduce sickness absence rates and prevent permanent loss of ability to work, ensure optimal performance and quality of life. Our findings can form the basis for further research aimed to clarify the category of occupational risk determined by the class of working conditions and to develop a quantitative model for assessing the risk of voice disorders.

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