The Effect of Pulmonary Function on the Incidence of Vocal Fatigue Among Teachers

• Published in: Journal of voice Vol. 34; no. 4; pp. 539 - 546
• Main Authors: Hunter, Eric J., Maxfield, Lynn, Graetzer, Simone
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.07.2020
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Breath Support; Female; Health Status Disparities; Humans; Incidence; Lung - physiopathology; Male; Middle Aged; Occupational Diseases - diagnosis; Occupational Diseases - epidemiology; Occupational Diseases - physiopathology; Occupational Health; Occupational Voice; Respiration; Risk Factors; School Teachers; Sex Factors; Speech breathing; Spirometry; Surveys and Questionnaires; Vocal fatigue; Vocal Fatigue Index; Voice Disorders - diagnosis; Voice Disorders - epidemiology; Voice Disorders - physiopathology; Voice Quality; Young Adult; Speech breathing; Spirometry; Vocal Fatigue Index; Vocal fatigue; Occupational Voice; Breath Support
• ISSN: 0892-1997; 1873-4588
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2018.12.011

Females face a significantly higher risk of presenting with voice problems than males. This discrepancy has been associated with a number of differences in respiratory behavior and the physiology of the laryngeal and endocrine systems. In conjunction with established spirometry measures, the Vocal Fatigue Index (VFI) was used to determine (1) if there is a relationship between base pulmonary function and vocal fatigue among teachers; and (2) if that relationship is different in females from males. One hundred and twenty-two elementary and middle school teachers (96 females and 26 males) from the Jordan School District in Northern Utah participated in the study. VFI factors were predictors of the outcomes of several raw spirometry measures for female participants, but the same predictive relationship was not found for male participants. Additionally, there appeared to be no relationship between VFI and spirometry measures in females when using normalized, rather than raw, spirometry metrics. The results suggest that the pulmonary physiology that would result in reduced raw pulmonary function, in combination with other differences associated with gender, may lead to a greater incidence of vocal fatigue among female teachers than their male counterparts.