Voice problems at work: A challenge for occupational safety and health arrangement

In modern societies about one third of the labor force are working in profe ssions in which voice is the primary tool. Voice problems are common in gen eral, but they are even more common in professions in which there is heavy vocal loading, i.e. professions that do not only require prolonged Voice us e, but also involve extra loading factors such as background noise, long sp eaking distance, poor room acoustics, lack of adequate equipment like voice amplifiers etc. School and kindergarten teachers can be considered to repr esent professions with heavy vocal loading. The occupational safety and hea lth arrangements of voice and speech professionals are poorly developed as compared to many other professions. However, the existing legislation could be used to support efforts to improve the working conditions of this large but heterogeneous group.