Prevalence of voice disorders among future teachers

An epidemiological study was conducted in order to find out the prevalence of voice disorders among students studying to be teachers. Vocal symptoms w ere inquired of 226 students. Their voices were assessed perceptually by a speech therapist and those who had abnormal voice quality or reported sever al vocal symptoms were referred to a clinical examination by a laryngologis t. The results showed that 20% of this population reported two or more voca l symptoms during the previous year and that 19% had an organic voice disor der. This reinforces the need for clinical evaluation of students with voca l symptoms and more vocal training in the teacher education programs.