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The Effect of Pulmonary Function on the Incidence of Vocal Fatigue Among Teachers
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

The Effect of Pulmonary Function on the Incidence of Vocal Fatigue Among Teachers

Eric J. Hunter, Lynn Maxfield and Simone Graetzer
Journal of voice, Vol.34(4), pp.539-546
07/01/2020
DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2018.12.011
PMCID: 6656638
PMID: 30686633
url
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/6656638View
Open Access

Abstract

Introduction. Females face a signi ficantly higher risk of presenting with voice problems than males. This discrepancy has been associated with a number of differences in respiratory behavior and the physiol- ogy of the laryngeal and endocrine systems. Methods. In conjunction with established spirometry measures, the Vocal Fatigue Index (VFI) was used to deter- mine (1) if there is a relationship between base pulmonary function and vocal fatigue among teachers; and (2) if that relationship is different in females from males. One hundred and twenty-two elementary and middle school teachers (96 females and 26 males) from the Jordan School District in Northern Utahparticipated in the study. Results. VFI factors were predictors of the outcomes of several raw spirometry measures for female partici- pants, but the same predictive relationship was not found for male participants. Additionally, there appeared to be no relationship between VFI and spirometry measures in females when using normalized, rather than raw, spi- rometry metrics. Conclusions. The results suggest that the pulmonary physiology that would result in reduced raw pulmonary function, in combination with other differences associated with gender, may lead to a greater incidence of vocal fatigue among female teachers than their male counterparts.
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Otorhinolaryngology Science & Technology

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