Respiratory and Laryngeal Function in Teachers: Pre- and Postvocal Loading Challenge

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine laryngeal and respiratory physiological changes in teachers before and after a 1-hour vocal loading challenge. Methods: Twelve teachers completed ratings of vocal tiredness, vocal effort, and produced a reading passage and monologue before and after a 1-hour vocal loading challenge (reading aloud in noise). Sound pressure level, lung volume parameters, cepstral peak prominence, and low/high spectral ratio were measured. Results: After loading, participants significantly increased vocal effort, vocal tiredness, utterance length, and sound pressure level, and significantly decreased % vital capacity/syllable. Conclusions: Following the 1-hour reading-aloud challenge, tiredness and effort increased. However, lung volume did not change and cepstral peak prominence and low/high spectral ratio remained in the normal range. Future studies are needed to understand the effect of vocal use and vocal loading in teachers.