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Vocal loading among day care center teachers
Eeva Sala1, Erkko Airo, Pekka Olkinuora
1eeva.sala@tyks.fi
Logopedics, Phoniatrics, Vocology
|October 12, 2002
Summary
Day care teachers experience more voice disorders due to higher vocal demands and noisy environments. Reducing background noise is crucial for their vocal health and children's understanding.
Area of Science:
- Occupational Health
- Speech Science
- Environmental Acoustics
Background:
- Day care teachers report higher voice disorder prevalence compared to nurses.
- Job-related factors include vocal demands for attention and poor environmental acoustics.
- Excessive background noise and poor room acoustics are identified risk factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify risk factors for voice disorders in day care teachers versus a control group (nurses).
- To measure speaking times, speech levels, background noise, and room acoustics (RASTI).
Main Methods:
- Comparative study of day care teachers and nurses.
- Objective measurements of speaking time and speech levels.
- Environmental assessment including background noise and Rapid Speech Transmission Index (RASTI).
Main Results:
- Day care teachers exhibit significantly higher vocal use and speech levels than nurses.
- Day care environments are characterized by high background noise levels.
- Poor room acoustics contribute significantly to elevated noise levels.
Conclusions:
- Occupational voice use and environmental factors in day care settings pose risks for voice disorders.
- High background noise negatively impacts both speaker vocal production and listener speech perception.
- Interventions to control noise and improve acoustics are essential for day care teacher vocal health.