Levels of Speech Usage: A Self-Report Scale for Describing How People Use Speech

People use speech in a variety of ways to fulfill life roles and responsibilities. Documenting speech usage is critical in clinical work to plan relevant intervention goals for individual clients, and in clinical research to better describe participant characteristics. A few voice-use classification scales exist; however, they are limited in scope (e.g., focus almost exclusively on occupation) and in applicability beyond voice-disordered populations. The Levels of Speech Usage is a self-report categorical rating scale intended for use with adults across a wide range of communication disorders and life situations. This article presents data from the initial analysis of this scale in a sample of 200 people with spasmodic dysphonia (SD). Speech usage was significantly associated with age, education level, and work status (full time, part time, no paid work). Speech usage was not significantly associated with gender, SD duration, self-rating of voice, treatment status, presence of other medical conditions, Voice Handicap Index, or a measure of communicative participation. Further research is needed to explore the function of this scale in other populations.