Teachers are 32 times more likely to experience voice problems than are other professionals, Science Daily writes today, and the risk may be even higher for female teachers than it is for males.
The blog reports on results from a study by the National Center for Voice and Speech, the findings of which were scheduled to be presented this month in San Antonio at a meeting of the Acoustical Society of America.
As part of the study, Eric Hunter, the center’s deputy director, and his colleagues equipped teachers for 14 days with a voice dosimeter, a device that captures voicing characteristics such as pitch and loudness rather than actual speech.
The authiors found that female teachers used their voices about 10 percent more than males—and talked louder—when teaching.
Making matters worse, the female teachers were also less likely to give their overworked. voices a rest a home. They talked 7 percent more than the male teachers at home.
My guess? Most of these teachers were probably busy mothers as well.