Objective: Less attention has been paid to the interaction between voice disorders, stress, and indoor environmental quality for work ability in teachers. Therefore, our aim was to study whether lower work ability associated more strongly when the variables of voice disorders and stress at work were combined as opposed to evaluating these two factors separately.
Methods: We conducted a questionnaire study including validated self-assessment of work ability and a technical assessment of school buildings utilizing a sample of 1198 and a subsample (n = 538) of Finnish teachers.
Results: When combined, voice disorders and stress at work had a stronger association to decreased work ability than when they were evaluated separately. The occurrence of stress was more prevalent in poor and moderate work ability than the occurrence of voice disorders. Nine out of 10 of the teachers who had neither voice disorders nor stress reported good work ability, while four out of 10 of the teachers who suffered from both voice disorders and stress had poor work ability. As regards the background variables, nearly half of the subjects working in the non-problem buildings have neither stress nor voice disorders.
Discussion: We recommend offering support for reducing stress at work to improve teachers' work performance. The findings also support the maintenance of school buildings and keeping them in good condition. Follow-up studies are needed to investigate the possible effects of voice disorders and the associated variables on work ability.
Purpose: Although numerous patient-reported outcome measures have been developed and validated to quantify the impact of voice problems on different aspects of life, to our knowledge no screening instrument exists that specifically captures voice disorders in a retrospective fashion. The aim of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties and diagnostic validity of a retrospective voice screening method, Screen11, according to the COSMIN framework for health-related, patient-reported outcome measures. The items in Screen11 have been used to establish the prevalence of voice disorders in both general and occupation-specific populations in the Nordic countries. However, the instrument has not been validated.
Methods: The voice patient group (n = 54) in this study comprised of patients from the Turku University Central Hospital phoniatric outpatient clinic seeking help for their voice problems. For these voice patients, we recruited voice-healthy controls (n = 61) who matched in terms of gender, age, and occupation. The participants responded to the Screen11 questionnaire along with the VHI and the VAPP.
Results: The results of the initial exploratory factor analysis showed that all the Screen11 items loaded on a common underlying latent factor. Furthermore, Screen11 had high internal consistency (α = .93) and correlated sufficiently with other voice questionnaires.
Conclusions: The results indicate that Screen11, which screens for possible voice disorders at an early stage, was successfully validated. With respect to its diagnostic validity, the Screen11 sum score is preferable. A threshold of ≥ 15 should be used for differentiating patients with possible voice disorders from those with healthy voices.
The early intervention Språkstart Halland targets children aged 0-3 years. During home visits at 6 and 11 months, library staff deliver gift-packs containing books, toys, songs, and rhymes to promote early language stimulation. Parents are encouraged to engage in 'talk, play, sing, read' activities to support language development. The aim of the present study was to examine parents' experiences of the 6- and 11-month visits and develop an understanding of their general impressions and thoughts regarding the perceived impact of the visits. Parents (n = 15) were interviewed in four focus groups and two one-on-one interviews. Data was analysed using qualitative content analysis. The findings show that the intervention changed the parents' mindset and increased their knowledge regarding early language stimulation. Tools and strategies benefitting the parent-child interaction were gained. A positive experience and personal guidance created motivation for the parents to carry out the language stimulating activities after the visit. Social gains were described. The findings imply usefulness of the intervention in supporting children's language and literacy development.
Understanding the impact of listening effort (LE) and fatigue has become increasingly crucial in optimizing the learning experience with the growing prevalence of online classrooms as a mode of instruction. The purpose of this study was to investigate the LE, fatigue, and voice quality experienced by students during online and face-to-face class sessions. A total of 110 participants with an average age of 20.76 (range 18-28) comprising first year undergraduate students in Speech and Language Therapy and Audiology programs in Turkey, rated their LE during the 2022-2023 spring semester using the Listening Effort Screening Questionnaire (LESQ) and assessed their fatigue with the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20). Voice quality of lecturers was assessed using smoothed cepstral peak prominence (CPPS) measurements. Data were collected from both online and face-to-face sessions. The results revealed that participants reported increased LE and fatigue during online sessions compared to face-to-face sessions and the differences were statistically significant. Correlation analysis showed significant relationships (p < 0.05) between audio-video streaming quality and LE-related items in the LESQ, as well as MFI sub-scales and total scores. The findings revealed a relationship between an increased preference for face-to-face classrooms and higher levels of LE and fatigue, emphasizing the significance of these factors in shaping the learning experience. CPPS measurements indicated a dysphonic voice quality during online classroom audio streaming. These findings highlight the challenges of online classes in terms of increased LE, fatigue, and voice quality issues. Understanding these factors is crucial for improving online instruction and student experience.
Purpose: An elevated sense of vocal effort due to increased vocal demand is frequently reported by patients with voice disorders. However, effects of vocal warm-up on self-assessed vocal effort have not been thoroughly examined. A recently developed version of the Borg CR-10 Scale facilitates vocal effort assessments, following different vocal warm-up tasks.
Methods: Effects of a short (5 min) vocal warm-up on self-assessed vocal effort was evaluated using the Borg CR-10. Twenty-six vocally healthy participants (13F, 13M, mean age 22.6), in two randomised groups, underwent sessions of either reading aloud or semi-occluded vocal tract exercises (SOVTE). Vocal effort was evaluated at four times: pre to post vocal warm-up and two silence periods. Non-parametric analyses for repeated measures and calculations for within-subject standard deviation were applied in group comparisons.
Results: Following vocal warm-up, vocal effort ratings were increased to a statistically significant degree in both intervention groups compared to baseline ratings. After a 5-min rest in silence following completion of the vocal warm-up, vocal effort ratings returned to baseline levels in both groups. The drop in ratings immediately post warm-up compared to 5 min later was statistically significant for the SOVTE group.
Conclusions: Five minutes of vocal warm-up caused increased self-perceived vocal effort in vocally healthy individuals. The increased sense of effort dissipated faster following warm-up for the SOVTE group. When using the Borg CR-10 scale to track vocal effort, it may be beneficial to apply experience-based anchors.
Purpose: This study aimed to compare the affective, behavioral, and cognitive reactions related to vocal function in people with Parkinson's disease (PWPD) and healthy controls using the Behavior Assessment Battery - Voice (BAB-Voice). The test's internal consistency was also described.
Methods: 31 PWPD and 19 healthy controls were recruited from September 2020 to March 2021. Participants completed four BAB-Voice subtests: Speech Situation Checklist - Emotional Reaction (SSC-ER), the Speech Situation Checklist - Speech Disruption (SSC-SD), Behavior Checklist (BCL), and Communication Attitude Test for Adults (BigCAT), describing the experienced negative emotional reaction, voice disruptions, coping behaviors, and negative attitude regarding communication respectively. Subtest scores were calculated and analyzed.
Results: The scores of the PWPD were significantly different from those of the controls (Pillai's Trace = 0.344, F[4] = 5.508, p = .001, ηp2 = .344): PWPD showed more negative emotions and voice problems, more coping behaviors, and more negative speech-related attitude compared to healthy controls. All subtests showed excellent internal consistency.
Conclusions: The BAB-Voice proved a tool with a good internal consistency that measured different psychosocial reactions in PWPD versus controls. PWPD exhibited significantly more negative emotions and voice problems in specific speech situations, more coping behaviors, and a more negative speech-related attitude. The specificity of information obtained from the BAB-Voice may aid in improving the treatment planning of voice disorders in PWPD.
Aim: The aim of the study was to explore the assessment fidelity of Språkfyran, a language screening instrument for four-year-old children. Språkfyran is a mandatory part of the healthcare program within the Swedish Child Health Service (CHS) and is offered to all four-year-olds in the region Scania in Sweden.
Methods: The study was based on structured observations of twenty-four specialist CHS nurses' adherence to the Språkfyran protocol during screening.
Results: All the observed nurses deviated from the test protocol. There was a large variation in the number of deviations from the test protocol per nurse, with the highest number of deviations occurring for three specific testing items. Significantly more deviations were made with four-year-old bilingual children as opposed to four-year-old monolingual children. Half of the nurses did not use the test protocol.
Conclusions: There is a clear need to improve the assessment fidelity of Språkfyran. Both the training that the nurses are offered, and the development of the test, are essential in securing the aim of high-quality work within the CHS. Support from experts in child speech-language development and disorders is suggested to be available at the CHS in Sweden.
Stuttering is a fluency disorder that is multidimensional because it involves more than speech difficulties. People who stutter can use the Internet to find out more about their condition and connect with other people in the same position, yet in Croatia, there are not nearly as many online sources on stuttering or as many possibilities to connect with other people who stutter as in the USA or Great Britain. If one does not speak English well, a lot of information about stuttering will simply be denied to them, especially to those who have never received speech therapy. The present study, the first of its kind in Croatia, was conducted in order to understand how often and for what reasons people who stutter search for Internet resources related to their condition. The study also assessed whether Internet use depended on age, experience with speech-language therapy, self-reported satisfaction with such therapy, and self-assessed severity of stuttering. An online questionnaire integrating the 9-Point Stuttering Severity Scale was developed for this study and administered to 51 individuals aged 18 years and older in Croatia. All collected data and findings on the internet searches come from the questionnaire. Age did not significantly affect the frequency or purpose of Internet searches. Individuals who were not attending speech therapy were more likely to search online sources about stuttering than those who received it before. People who rated their stuttering as severe were more likely to search online sources for stuttering than those who rated their condition as mild. These results suggest that there is a need for more useful, high-quality online content and materials in Croatian for people who stutter. Such resources would offer people who stutter a new world of support, mutual understanding, shared experiences and knowledge, and ways for them to help themselves.
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