Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Carolyn S. Buckenmaier
Committee Member
Paul Terry
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Committee Member
Claudia Santin
Keywords
airborne irritants, Alabama, assessment, conservation, control groups, educational programs, exercise techniques, Huntsville, intervention, laryngeal biomechanics, Madison County School System, middle school teachers, nontreatment, north Alabama, otorhinolaryngologists, prevention programs, quasi experimental study, respiratory infections, speech therapy, teachers, treatment approaches, upper respiratory infections, vocal conservation, vocal disorders, vocal exercise techniques, vocal hygiene, vocal improvement, vocal mechanisms, vocal quality, vocal treatment, voice disorders
Abstract
Nationally, over 38% of teachers are diagnosed with vocal disorders due to heavy demands placed on their vocal mechanisms with resulting abnormal laryngeal biomechanics and repeated exposure to upper respiratory infections and other airborne irritants (Smith, Kirchner, Taylor, Hoffman, & Lemke, 1998). The incidence of vocal disorders among teachers in the north Alabama area appears to be higher than the national average of 38% according to local otorhinolaryngologists interviewed and preliminary data collected from middle school teachers in the Madison County School System in Huntsville, Alabama. Preliminary data indicated a 44% voice-disordered teacher population within the targeted middle school teaching population, 6% above the national average of 38%.
Despite the frequency of vocal disorders among teachers, there are few studies evaluating the effects of treatments designed to aid this group from the untoward effects of their professional voice use (Russell, Oates, & Greenwood, 1998). Because teachers need help in coping with the vocal requirements of their vocation, educational, treatment and prevention programs need to be developed and evaluated (Pannbacker, 1999; Russell et al.). This applied dissertation was therefore designed to investigate the effect of 2 vocal treatment approaches on improving overall vocal quality of middle school teachers presenting voice disorders. It was projected that, following intervention, teachers identified as voice disordered in the middle schools of the Madison County School System would experience a 50% improvement in vocal quality.
Treatment approaches were administered over a 4-month period of time in a quasi experimental study. Analysis of postintervention data revealed a 29% voice improvement for teachers using vocal conservation/hygiene techniques, 11% voice improvement for teachers using vocal exercise techniques, and no improvement or worsening of vocal disorders for teachers in nontreatment control groups.