Comparison of vocal symptoms between teachers and non-teachers

• Main Author: Hafizah, Rusdi
• Format: Monograph
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Sains Malaysia
• Subjects: R Medicine (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.usm.my/51114/1/HAFIZAH%20RUSDI%20-%2024%20pages.pdf; http://eprints.usm.my/51114/

The present study aims to investigate the characteristics of vocal symptoms among teachers in comparison with non-teachers. Specifically, the objectives are to compare the differences in overall and each vocal symptom between teachers and non-teachers. This is a comparative cross-sectional study that involved 165 participants who were recruited through convenience sampling from the selected primary and secondary schools in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. The participants were divided into two groups i.e., teachers group (99 teachers) and non-teachers group (66 non-teaching staffs). Data collection involved administration of specifically-developed vocal symptom questionnaire to measure the frequency of vocal symptoms experienced by participants in each group. The values of the questionnaires were compared between the teachers group and non-teachers group to investigate whether there were differences between the two groups. The results indicated that there were significant differences between frequency of overall vocal symptoms and frequency of each vocal symptom between teachers group and nonteachers group. Teachers group was found more than twice to experience vocal symptoms compared to non-teachers group. Similarly, teachers group were more frequently experiencing each vocal symptom than non-teachers group. The findings from the present study showed that teachers are indeed experiencing more frequent vocal symptoms compared to non-teachers. This is probably due to the nature of their profession that put higher occupational demand on the voice usage which in expose them to high risk of developing vocal symptoms. The findings from the present study may provide information on the nature of vocal symptoms among teachers in Malaysia. This information may help to facilitate the development of early screening, prevention and intervention programs that have been practiced in several other countries such as United States of America and Australia. These programs may prevent the development of voice disorders among teachers which in turn will reduce the implication of voice disorders on teachers' job performance, students' academic performance and government's financial.