Stimmrehabilitation und Psychotherapie - Anwendung bei Lehrern

Voice disorders in teachers are not only a serious medical but also social and economic problem in Poland. It has been shown that teachers are at risk of developing occupational dysphonia which account for over 25% of all occupational diseases diagnosed in Poland. Voice problems affects psychological wellbeing of teachers, while psychological factors may induce escalation of voice pathologies in this professional group. The study was aimed to assess the effectiveness of phoniatric treatment including voice therapy and psychotherapy in female teachers with chronic dysphonia. The study group included 45 subjects with voice disorders, including hyperfunctional dysphonia, glottal incompetence and vocal nodules. Twenty one teachers of that group additionally underwent short forms of psychotherapy. Questionnaire surveys, phoniatric examination and videostroboscopic evaluation were performed before and after voice therapy. A significant improvement in the majority of voice problems, and objectively assessed symptoms and voice parameters was achieved in the study group, particularly in teachers treated by voice therapy associated with psychotherapy, as compared to the controls. After the treatment, the number of the patients with voice disorders, particularly with hyperfunctional dysphonia, decreased.In conclusion, the complex phoniatric treatment including vocal training and short forms of psychotherapy seemed to be an effective method of therapy for patients with occupational dysphonia

Correlation between Acoustic Parameters and Voice Handicap Index in Dysphonic Teachers

&lt;i&gt;Objective:&lt;/i&gt; The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between acoustic analysis and biopsychosocial implications of voice problems, evaluated by the Voice Handicap Index (VHI). &lt;i&gt;Materials and Methods:&lt;/i&gt; The study comprised 120 female teachers with voice disorders, evaluated by videolaryngostroboscopy. 60.8% of this group were diagnosed as having functional dysphonia and 39.2% had dysphonia with benign vocal fold masses (nodules and polyps). The controls consisted of 30 euphonic women. The correlations between VHI and acoustic analysis were assessed in both groups using the Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis. &lt;i&gt;Results:&lt;/i&gt; In teachers, the total VHI score was over 5 times as high as in controls (p &lt; 0.001). Moreover, in teachers, significant positive correlations were found between the total VHI score and the frequency perturbation parameters and amplitude perturbation parameters when both statistical methods were used. These acoustic parameters also significantly correlated with the score on the functional and emotional subscales, but rarely with the physical subscale of the VHI. &lt;i&gt;Conclusions:&lt;/i&gt; The study revealed a significant relationship between the objective voice measurements and the VHI. The results confirmed that VHI can be a valuable tool for assessing biopsychosocial implications of occupational dysphonia and should be incorporated in multidimensional voice evaluation.</jats:p