SAN ANTONIO, Oct 28, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- U.S. researchers say teachers are
32 times more likely than others to experience voice problems.
The study equipped teachers with a voice dosimeter -- a device which captures
voicing characteristics such as pitch and loudness rather than actual speech.
The dosimeter sampled the teachers' voices 33 times per second. The researchers
analyzed 20 million of these samplings collected during waking hours over a
14-day period for each teacher.
The researchers found female teachers used their voices about 10 percent more
than males when teaching and 7 percent more when not teaching. They also found
female teachers spoke more loudly than male teachers.
"These results may indicate an underlying reason for female teachers' increased
voice problems," study leader Eric Hunter of Denver's National Center for Voice
and Speech said in a statement.
Hunter is scheduled to present findings at a meeting this week of the Acoustical
Society of America in San Antonio.
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Copyright 2009 by United Press International