Protecting Teachers’ Voices: Investigating Risk Factors, Conducting Cost Analysis

项目摘要/摘要 学校教师的声音问题很严重，不仅因为这些问题经常发生，而且还因为 因为它们破坏了课堂上的教育。研究已经提出了一些相关的 生理、环境和行为风险因素。然而，在以下方面仍然存在根本差距 了解这些因素如何影响教师在一学年中的发声健康，教师如何 适应他们面临的直言不讳的要求，以及当前的职业政策(包括财务政策 和教育政策制定者的态度限制)对教师的声音健康有好有坏的影响。这个 这种差距的持续存在对积极发声健康的长期目标构成了障碍 教育和治疗方案。目前的提案将通过探索如何 教师的声音受到发声风险、发声要求、发声适应和发声健康的影响 政策。基于强大的基础性工作和生产力的记录，这项经验丰富的研究 团队提出了3个具体目标：[1]确定与发生以下疾病相关的风险因素之间的相互作用 通过将横断面和纵向(长达一年)的调查数据与标准数据进行比较来解决教师的声音问题 声音评估；[2]量化教师对课堂声音的感知敏锐度和适应能力 通过在教室和模拟环境中进行分析来增加声音健康问题风险的需求 课堂环境；以及[3]调查当前和潜在的基于学校的政策，以改善发言权 通过审查对教师发声问题的行政回应并量化两者的成本来实现健康 解决方案和不干预。这一提议具有创新性，部分原因是它融合了虚拟现实。 具有先前测试的声学模拟和实时可听化系统的技术，以复制 课堂风险因素和干预措施，在受控环境中引发“教师声音”；[2]使用来自 独特的跨学科研究团队(如语音科学、声学工程、通信、 经济学和教育学)以有效创新的方式处理重大的公共卫生问题； 和[3]将可靠的调查工具(使用焦点小组开发)与标准临床相结合 评估以准确跟踪教师的声音在整个学年的过程中如何变化。而当 不是临床试验，这些数据具有临床意义，因为可能会出现模式，包括发声时 问题会出现，它们是如何在一学年中取得进展的，以及它们为什么会改善或恶化。因此，这一点 雄心勃勃的方法将有助于保护教师的声音健康，改善出现问题时的反应， 间接改善课堂学习环境。这项研究的结果也将为学校 管理人员和其他政策制定者提供实用和经济上可行的信息，可用于 支持他们所在地区的教师的发声健康。

Project Summary/Abstract Schoolteachers' voice problems are significant, not only because these problems occur so frequently but also because they undermine education in the classroom. Research has suggested a number of associated physiological, environmental and behavioral risk factors. However, there remains a fundamental gap in understanding how these factors affect a teacher's vocal health over an academic year, how teachers accommodate to the vocal demands they face, and how current occupational policies (including the financial and attitudinal constraints of educational policy makers) impact teachers' vocal health for better or worse. The continued presence of this gap represents a barrier to the long-term objective of proactive vocal health education and treatment programs. The current proposal will move this effort forward by exploring how teachers' voices are impacted by vocal risks, vocal demands, vocal accommodations, and vocal health policies. Grounded on strong foundational work and a track record of productivity, this experienced research team proposes 3 specific aims: [1] determine the interactions between risk factors related to the occurrence of teacher voice problems by collating cross-sectional and longitudinal (year-long) survey data with standard voice assessments; [2] quantify teachers' perceptual acuity of and accommodations to classroom vocal demands that increase the risk of vocal health issues by conducting analyses in classrooms and simulated classroom environments; and [3] investigate current and potential school-based policies to improve vocal health by reviewing administrative responses to teachers' voice issues and quantifying the costs of both solutions and non-interventions. The proposal is innovative in part because it [1] merges virtual reality technologies with previously tested acoustic simulations and real-time auralization systems to replicate classroom risk factors and interventions, eliciting “teacher voice” in controlled settings; [2] uses tools from a unique interdisciplinary research team (i.e. Voice Science, Acoustical Engineering, Communication, Economics, and Education) to approach a significant public health concern in an effectively innovative way; and [3] combines reliable survey instruments (developed using focus groups) with standard clinical assessments to accurately track how a teacher's voice changes over the course of a full academic year. While not a clinical trial, these data are clinically significant because patterns may emerge, including when voice problems occur, how they progress over an academic year, and why they improve or worsen. Thus, this ambitious approach will help preserve teachers' vocal health, improve the response when problems present, and indirectly improve the classroom learning environment. The results of this study will also provide school administrators and other policy makers with practical and economically feasible information that can be used to support teachers' vocal health in their districts.