Abstract:

Introduction: The essential part of teaching profession is the quality of the teacher´s voice, as it forms the basis of pedagogical communication between the teacher and the students. In teachers, voice becomes a means of their communication which influences the clarity of their teaching. At the same time, the voice quality of the teacher implies the effectiveness of reciprocal communication, because any voice problems reduce this effectiveness significantly ([1], [2], [3]). The aim: The paper deals with the analysis of the occurrence of voice disorders in a group of academic staff (university teachers) from different faculties of two Czech universities. The self-perception of the voice disorders or disturbances occurrence was evaluated in selected academic teachers based on their subjective judgement, using the objective standardized international questionnaire Voice Handicap Index. Methodology: The total number of 269 academic staff from two Czech universities was compared. The aim of the research was to analyse the occurrence of voice disorders in relation to observing the principles of voice hygiene and the age of academic staff. Results: Although it has been found that there are more academic staff that do not have a voice disorder or disturbance according to the VHI questionnaire, it is necessary to draw the attention to the fact that the percentage of academic staff with mild or moderate voice difficulties is relatively high. The importance of this caution stems from the fact that for the academics, as voice professionals, the quality of voice is an important prerequisite for the effective realization of their profession. The principles of voice (vocal) hygiene are complied with by 94 academic staff (35%) and 175 academic staff (65%) have not been complying with the principles of voice hygiene. 204 academics (76%) were found not to have voice disorders and 65 academic staff (24%) had voice disorders (mild, medium or heavy). Conclusion: Although there was no significant interrelation between the variables chosen, it is necessary to take into account further studies that prove the opposite. Therefore we discuss the possible reasons of the false “positive” results. We compare the results with our previous research ones, in which we followed similar parameters and circumstances of the prevention of voice disorders in voice professionals by academic staff.

References:
[1] PELCLOVÁ, D. (2014). Nemoci z povolání a intoxikace. Praha: Karolinum. ISBN 978-80-246-2597-3.
[2] FROSTOVÁ, J. (2010). Péče o hlasovou kondici učitelů. Brno: Masaryk University. ISBN 978-80-210-5355-7.
[3] ROY, N. et al. (2004). Prevalence of voice disorders in teachers and the general population. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47, p. 281–293.

Keywords:

Voice disorders, academic staff, vocal hygiene, university teachers, Voice Handicap Index, teaching.