A Comparison of the Effects of Voice Massage™ and Voice Hygiene Lecture on Self-Reported Vocal Well-Being and Acoustic and Perceptual Speech Parameters in Female Teachers

Abstract

This study compared the effects of Voice Massage™ (VM) and a voice hygiene lecture (VHL) on 60 female teachers. VM is a Finnish massage method which treats muscles related to voice production. All subjects attended the VHL (3 h). Half of them were randomly assigned to the VM group, the other half received only VHL. VM was given 5 times in 1-hour sessions at intervals of 1–2 weeks. At the beginning and end of the autumn school term, before and after a working day, (1) a 1-min reading sample was recorded at both the subject’s habitual loudness and loudly, (2) a prolonged phonation on [a:] was recorded at habitual speaking pitch and (3) a questionnaire on voice quality, ease or difficulty of phonation, and tiredness of the throat was completed. The reading samples were analysed for the fundamental frequency (F₀), equivalent sound level (Leq) and α-ratio [Leq (1–5 kHz) – Leq (50–1,000 Hz)]. The vowel samples were analysed for the F₀ and Leq, as well as for jitter and shimmer. The reading samples were also evaluated perceptually by 3 speech trainers. The mean F₀ and difficulty of phonation increased from the beginning to the end of the term in the VHL group (p = 0.026, p = 0.007, respectively). In the VM group, the perceived firmness of loud reading decreased (p = 0.026). The results suggest that VM may help in sustaining vocal well-being during a school term.

Associação entre o tempo de magistério e a autoavaliação vocal em professores universitários: estudo observacional transversal

“…The same was found in other researches 11,17 at similar rates as the ones in this study. This finding is explained by the unfavorable work conditions such as strong competitive noise, classrooms with inappropriate acoustics, tension when speaking, lack of knowledge of appropriate vocal techniques, and lack of vocal hydration.…”

“…The maximum score for a question is 10 and the maximum total score is 280, which reflects the greatest negative impact of a vocal issue. Two additional scores were calculated: The Activity Limitation Score, by adding up the scores of the ten even-numbered questions of the aspects "work," "daily communication," and "social communication" (questions 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20), and the Participation Restriction Score, by adding up the scores of the ten odd-numbered questions of those same aspects (questions 3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19, and 21).…”

EGG and Acoustic Analyses of Different Voice Samples: Comparison between Perceptual Evaluation and Voice Activity and Participation Profile

“…A lack of correlation between the self-evaluation of voice problems and perceived quality in voice and laryngeal evaluation has also been reported in earlier studies for healthy voice users [see e.g. [41,42,43]]. The VAPP total score values obtained in the present study were quite low and the majority of the subjects had no organic lesions of the vocal folds.…”

The Effectiveness of Physiotherapy and Complementary Therapies on Voice Disorders: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

“…The studies presented some homogeneity regarding speech samples, since sustained vowel was present in five articles (22, 24–26, 28), followed by reading (23, 24, 27), spontaneous speech (28), automatic speech sequence (26) and singing (21). …”