Effectiveness of Telepractice by Smartphone App Technology in Preventing Voice Problems

Effectiveness of Telepractice by Smartphone App Technology in Preventing Voice Problems

Voice disorders in teachers have a significant impact on communication, quality of life, and economic costs to the healthcare system. We need to advance the prevention of voice disorders in teachers by testing an online telepractice model with synchronous (in real-time) and asynchronous (stored and accessed later) methods. The current study will investigate the effectiveness of the theoretically-driven Global Voice Prevention Model (GVPM) delivered by two methods; 1) online telepractice (synchronous and asynchronous) and 2) traditional, in-person for vocally healthy physical education and vocal music student teachers. Effectiveness of the model will be assessed by voice-related measures captured daily on a smartphone app during student teaching, matching the asynchronous aspects of the telepractice model and representing the effects of vocal loading from teaching.

Inclusion Criteria:

• senior at West Chester University as of fall 2016 and fall 2017,
• student teaching during spring 2017 or 2018,
• healthy voice user,
• owns a smartphone

Exclusion Criteria:

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