Vocal Warm-up and Respiratory Muscle Training

Vocal Warm-up and Respiratory Training in Teachers: a Randomized Clinical Trial

The purpose of this study is to verify the effects of two speech-pathology interventions: vocal warm-up and respiratory training in teachers who work in a public school of the city of Salvador-Bahia, with or without complaints of vocal disorders. It is a preventive study and the hypothesis is that both approaches can produce positive voice changes, but the Vocal Warm-up will produce the most significant changes.

Randomized Clinical Trial where participants were allocated into groups: Vocal Warm-up (to perform exercises of resistance and flexibility for 13 minutes before teaching, during six weeks) and Respiratory Muscle Training (to perform exercises to strengthen the respiratory muscles through the use of incentive respiratory equipment. Five repetitions of exhales with an interval of thirty seconds between each one were performed. It was requested rest for two minutes, repeating the procedure four times with the total of five series. These exercises were performed for 13 minutes before teaching, during six weeks).

Outcomes analyzed: demographics and teaching activity characteristics; symptoms, habits and factors associated with voice disorders; self-reported voice handicap (Voice Handicap Index-VHI-10); vocal severity rating (Vocal Severity Scale); and acoustic parameters through the computerized acoustic voice analysis program VoxMetria (CTS Informatics).

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age between 20-60.
• No occurence of speech therapy simultaneously to the intervention

Exclusion Criteria:

• Professional voice use in another activity;
• Frequent use of alcohol and tobacco;
• Influenza and/or upper respiratory tract infections (eg, rhinitis, sinusitis, pharyngitis) during the period of participation in the research.