Acoustic Analysis of Indian Teachers' Voice: Pre and Post Teaching Circumstances

Compared to people employed in other occupations, teachers are more likely to report having voice problems. They are more likely to perceive that their voice problems limit their current job performance and also adversely affect their future career options. The current study examines the acoustic parameters that are sensitive to vocal loading in pre and post teaching circumstances and adds to the existing literature. Voice samples were recorded from 30 primary school teachers, 15 females and 15 males in the age range of 28-35 years (mean age 29.3 years), with teaching experience of 10-12 years. Mean pitch, minimum pitch, maximum pitch, number of voice breaks, jitter local, shimmer local and mean harmonic to noise ratio were estimated using PRAAT software before and after a typical teaching day. Significant difference was seen when number of voice breaks was compared in pre and post teaching conditions in both males (p = 0.02) and females (p = 0.02) in the conversation task. Moreover, significant differences in mean pitch was observed in the task of slogan repetition (p = 0.03), but only in males. These parameter can be used as indicators of vocal fatigue among teachers and can be used in objective determination of at risk population.