Hong Kong (dpa) - Four out of 10 Hong Kong primary schoolteachers
suffer from voice problems as a result of straining to be heard in
the classroom, according to a university study published
Friday.
Women teachers are twice as likely to suffer than their male
colleagues while those who sang in class have a lower risk of
developing a problem.
In the study, by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, throat and
speech therapists carried out examinations of the larynx and
conducted speech tests on more than 350 teachers in 2008 and 2009.
The results found 42.3 per cent of those surveyed had voice
disorders ranging in severity from throat dryness and pain to
hoarseness and even loss of voice.
It also found that class size had an impact with the risk
increasing the more students in the class.
Teachers who taught continuously for more than 35 minutes were
also more prone to problems, said the researchers from the
university's Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck
Surgery.
Based on the findings, an estimated 9,400 of the city's 22,200
primary school teachers are believed to have voice disorders.
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