The Voice Quality in University Speech-Language Pathology Students and Nursing Students

• Main Authors: Chang, Man-Jung, 張嫚容
• Other Authors: Chen, Sheng-Hwa
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/4jc2k9

碩士 === 國立臺北護理健康大學 === 語言治療與聽力研究所 === 105 === Future voice professionals are a group of people who rely on their voice as a tool to make a living just as much as the active voice professionals do. The condition of their voice influences their quality of life, work, and communication’s effectiveness. It would be helpful for the future voice professionals to prevent vocal abuse and misuse if they have professional knowledge in voice. Therefore, early detection of future voice professionals’ voice problems and providing appropriate intervention are extremely important. Speech-language pathology students have gained relevant professional knowledge and received training related to voice during their studies, which are what the nursing students are lacking. Therefore, this study aims to compare the voice conditions of speech-language pathology and nursing students, and how their voice was affected by the possession of professional knowledge of voice, long duration in using their voice, objects to which their voice is directed, and circumstances in which their voice is used. The purpose of this study is to explore and compare the differences between speech-language pathology and nursing students of each year-level in their dysphonia severity index, voice handicap index, voice perception, and the questionnaire on their voice symptoms. Through recruitment, two groups, each with 25 female university students, were selected for this study. Study participants were divided into groups according to their majors and school years. There were six students in each school year group, ranging from the first to the fourth year. The researchers chose speech-language pathology and nursing students who had participated in voice training courses and completed their internships, and compared the differences between the two groups of future voice professionals in terms of voice perception,the dysphonia severity index, the voice handicap index, and voice symptoms. A two-way analysis of variance was then used to compare the voice conditions of the two groups of students. The results are as follows. First, according to the analysis of the voice perception, the level of hoarseness and harshness of the senior speech-language pathology students was significantly lower than that of the senior nursing students. There was no significant difference in all dimensions of GRBAS for both the entire speech-language pathology and the nursing students. Second, the test results of the dysphonia severity index showed that the scores of the junior and senior speech-language pathology students were significantly lower than those of the junior and senior nursing students. There was no significant difference in the dysphonia severity index for both the entire speech-language pathology and the nursing students. Third, the analysis of the self-evaluated voice quality of life pointed out that the scores of the overall voice and the functional scale for the junior speech-language pathology students were significantly lower than those of the junior nursing students. As for the senior students, the functional scale scores of the speech-language pathology students were significantly lower than those of the nursing students. Last but not least, according to the results of the self-evaluation health condition questionnaire, the scores of the freshmen and sophomore speech-language pathology students were higher than those of the nursing students in the same school year. As for the junior and senior students, the scores of the speech-language pathology students were lower than those of the nursing students. The research found that the test scores, including voice perception, dysphonia severity index, voice handicap index, and voice symptoms, of the junior and senior speech-language pathology students were lower than those of the junior and senior nursing students because the former received professional voice related courses and learnt how to project voice properly in high-demand situation; however, the latter tended to abuse or misuse their voice because they were not trained by professional programs about voice knowledge, and were required to talk for a long period. As a result, it would be beneficial for the future voice professionals on improving the overall voice quality and elevate voice life quality if they receive professional voice knowledge. In the future, the programs on vocal hygiene and voice training could prevent voice disorder and problems, and further lower the cost on medical treatment and ease the burden on clinical speech therapists.