Background: The aim of this study was to present a rehabilitation program of occupational voice disorders for teachers, conducted in the form of health resort stays, and evaluate its effectiveness depending on job seniority.
Methods: The study included 420 teachers who participated in a complex vocal prophylactic and rehabilitation program carried out during a 24-day stay at a health resort hospital. Employment time varied from 4 to 45 years (mean 28.3 years). The participants were divided into three groups: employment time < 21 years (57 teachers), 21-30 years (182 teachers) and > 30 years (181 teachers). All of the subjects underwent maximum phonation time assessment as well as jitter, shimmer and NHR (noise to harmonic ratio) parameters assessment before and after the program; they also underwent perceptual evaluation using the GRBAS scale and voice self-assessment using the VHI-30 scale.
Results: The perceptual evaluation using the GRBAS scale and self-report measures of voice function assessed using the VHI scale revealed improvement (p < 0.001). The parameters of jitter, shimmer and NHR improved significantly: jitter p < 0.001, shimmer p < 0.001 and NHR p < 0.003. Maximum phonation time increased slightly but significantly (p < 0.001). For all of the studied groups regardless of their employment time, maximum phonation time increased (p < 0.001). Initially, the lowest values of maximum phonation time were observed in teachers with longer job seniority, which improved after the rehabilitation but remained <15 s.
Conclusions: Voice care for teachers is crucial regardless of their job seniority. Early prophylaxis for voice disorders is effective, as the results of rehabilitation are better in teachers with a shorter employment time.
Keywords: balneotherapy; occupational health; occupational voice disorders; prevention; prophylaxis; teachers; voice training.