Female Teacher's Voice During Teaching

Sponsor

University of Oulu (Other)

Overall Status

Completed

CT.gov ID

NCT03382535

Collaborator

Tampere University (Other), Oulu University Hospital (Other), Umeå University (Other), Sonvox AB (Other)

Enrollment

Arms

78.2

Actual Duration (Months)

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

Two voice therapy methods are compared. Activity noise levels and vocal load of teachers during teaching in primary school classrooms are evaluated. Acoustic and Workshop Interventions are implemented in order to reduce noise level during lesson.

Condition or Disease	Intervention/Treatment	Phase
Functional Voice Disorder	Behavioral: Voice therapy Behavioral: Voice therapy with carryover strategies Other: Control group	N/A

Detailed Description

Due to the voice disorders, teachers are a major customer group for voice therapy. The main part of the study is comparison of two voice therapy methods.

There are several factors in the classroom that increase teacher's risk of voice disorders. One of the most significant is high noise level during lessons. This study explores the noise conditions the teachers are working in and how these conditions are related to the voice parameters and symptoms.

Finally, the study aims to determine whether classroom noise level can be lowered by improving classroom acoustics and by noise reducing workshops for teachers and pupils.

Study Design

Study Type:

Interventional

Actual Enrollment :

54 participants

Allocation:

Randomized

Intervention Model:

Parallel Assignment

Intervention Model Description:

Participants are randomly divided into three groups. Group 1: Voice therapy. Group 2: Voice therapy with carryover strategies (supplementary tasks and reminders). Group 3. Controls. No treatment during control period. After the control period participants are having Voice therapy or Voice therapy with carryover strategies.Participants are randomly divided into three groups. Group 1: Voice therapy. Group 2: Voice therapy with carryover strategies (supplementary tasks and reminders). Group 3. Controls. No treatment during control period. After the control period participants are having Voice therapy or Voice therapy with carryover strategies.

Masking:

Single (Participant)

Masking Description:

Participants are not told what kind of a therapy they are receiving.

Primary Purpose:

Treatment

Official Title:

The Well-being of Female Teacher's Voice During Teaching

Actual Study Start Date :

Dec 7, 2009

Actual Primary Completion Date :

Dec 20, 2014

Actual Study Completion Date :

Jun 14, 2016

Arms and Interventions

Arm	Intervention/Treatment
Active Comparator: Voice therapy An individually tailored voice therapy where the order and length of voice treatment methods will depend on the nature of each subject's voice problems. The intervention will take eight weeks and average of eight sessions (a' 45 min).	Behavioral: Voice therapy Voice therapy with direct and indirect therapy elements.
Experimental: Voice therapy with carryover strategies A voice therapy as described above and an enhanced carryover program. By carryover we mean the process of extending new vocal skills outside the clinic. It includes supplementary tasks and reminders that will be tailored individually out of those direct and indirect methods that the subjects have adopted during therapy sessions. Additionally, the teachers will be doing vocal warm-up and relaxation exercises together with their pupils int the beginning and in the middle of a school day. The intervention will take eight weeks.	Behavioral: Voice therapy with carryover strategies Voice therapy with direct and indirect therapy elements and supplementary tasks and reminders.
Other: Control group No intervention during eight weeks since this group will act as a temporary control group. After eight weeks, half of the participants in this group will be provided with Voice therapy and half with Voice therapy with carryover strategies.	Other: Control group No therapy during eight weeks. After the control period half of the group will be provided with Voice therapy and half with Voice therapy with carryover strategies.

Arm

Intervention/Treatment

Active Comparator: Voice therapy

An individually tailored voice therapy where the order and length of voice treatment methods will depend on the nature of each subject's voice problems. The intervention will take eight weeks and average of eight sessions (a' 45 min).

Behavioral: Voice therapy

Voice therapy with direct and indirect therapy elements.

Experimental: Voice therapy with carryover strategies

A voice therapy as described above and an enhanced carryover program. By carryover we mean the process of extending new vocal skills outside the clinic. It includes supplementary tasks and reminders that will be tailored individually out of those direct and indirect methods that the subjects have adopted during therapy sessions. Additionally, the teachers will be doing vocal warm-up and relaxation exercises together with their pupils int the beginning and in the middle of a school day. The intervention will take eight weeks.

Behavioral: Voice therapy with carryover strategies

Voice therapy with direct and indirect therapy elements and supplementary tasks and reminders.

Other: Control group

No intervention during eight weeks since this group will act as a temporary control group. After eight weeks, half of the participants in this group will be provided with Voice therapy and half with Voice therapy with carryover strategies.

Other: Control group

No therapy during eight weeks. After the control period half of the group will be provided with Voice therapy and half with Voice therapy with carryover strategies.

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

The change of the well-being of the teachers' voice. [Up to one week before the interventions, up to one week after the interventions, 6 months after the interventions, 1 year and 2 years after the interventions and up to one week after the control time (concerning control group).]
Subjective evaluation.Data collected with a questionnaire (Voice Activity and Participation Profile, VAPP) from the participants, answers given on a visual analogical scale (VAS) of 100 mm (0 = no disorder, 100 = extreme disorder).