AN INVESTIGATION OF VOCAL FATIGUE IN DIFFERENT PROFESSIONAL VOICE USERS


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Kıncal İ., Irklı F. A.

14th – 1st Panhellenic International Congress of Speech and Language Therapy “Building Bridges”, Thessaloniki, Greece, 28 - 30 May 2021, pp.34

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Summary Text
  • City: Thessaloniki
  • Country: Greece
  • Page Numbers: pp.34
  • Anadolu University Affiliated: No

Abstract

Introduction: Vocal fatigue (VF) is one of the common voice problems among individuals such as professional voice users (PVU) to be complaining about (Boominathan ve ark. 2008). Hypothetically, VF can be considered to cause by poor vocal hygiene (Yiu & Chan, 2003) or voice overuse. However, conducted studies have inadequate understanding and conclusion in terms of finding causes or the related factors of VF among different professionals who are considered as PVU. Aim: Therefore, this study aims to investigate the related factors of VF in PVU. Method: 303 PVU from 6 different professions (teachers and lecturers, speech and language therapists, imams, call center workers, singers, lawyers) have completed an online questionairre of vocal hygiene, voice use, vocational factors and Turkish version of Vocal Fatigue Index (VFI) (Şirin et al., 2020). Results: Spearman correlation analysis have been used for hypothesised related factors and 3 different section scores of VFI. Voice use duration have been found to be significantly related to Section 2 of VFI (p<.01) and total scores of VFI (p<.05). Voice rest has been found to be significantly related to Section 2 (p<.01) and 3 (p<.05). Kruskall-Wallis Test have been used for different professions in terms of VFI scores. Significant difference among professions has been found. Conclusion: Voice use duration and voice rest may have reduce VF. Professions such as speech and language therapists and singers have low VF which may due to their vocal use and vocal hygiene education.