Teachers' voice parameters and classroom acoustics—A field study and online survey

Many studies have suggested that teachers have a significantly higher rate of voice problems than the general population. In order to better understand the possible influences of room acoustics on different voice parameters, a study has been carried out by London South Bank University which involved measurements of voice parameters for teachers working in classrooms with varying acoustic conditions. Data relating to the voice, including the average speech sound level, fundamental frequency, and phonation percentage, were captured using an Ambulatory Phonation Monitor (APM) which measured directly from skin vibrations in the neck, thereby excluding the effects of other noise sources in the environment. The measured voice parameters were compared with the room acoustic data for the classrooms involved, which were surveyed separately from the voice measurements. In addition to the field measurements, an online questionnaire was undertaken with the support of two UK teacher trade unions. This was designed to gain further information on teachers’ experiences of voice problems and school acoustics in general and indicated that over 66% of the surveyed teachers had experienced voice problems during their career. This paper will present the results of the field measurements and questionnaire survey.