Glottal function self-perception and auditory-perceptual analysis of municipal school teachers

ABSTRACT Purpose: to correlate data from the self-perception analysis and vocal teacher self-perception. Methods: the study included 52 teachers of both genders (39 women and 13 men) from municipal schools in Lagarto, aged between 24 and 54. Data collection was carried out in schools in two steps: application of the Glottal Function Index (GFI) self-assessment questionnaire and the Consensus Protocol of Voice Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation. Data were analyzed quantitatively and organized into a database to be treated statistically. Results: the study revealed 80% of voice changes on teachers, according to the Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation, and 59.6% of vocal changes self-reported by teachers. It has been found that the main complaints of teacher refer to items "vocal fatigue" and "voice breaks or is different" and the most mentioned vocal symptoms by experts includes "tension" and "hoarseness". There was no statistically significant correlation between the tools used. Conclusion: the lack of correlation between the protocols can be justified with the lack of awareness of teachers regarding their vocal problem, which is caused by the adaptation in their voices. Thereby, the work of the speech-language pathologist is extremely important to ensure self-perception and vocal health.