title: Vocal symptoms in telemarketers: a random and controlled field trial.
abstract: The present study was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of a specific program regarding the occurrence of vocal attrition symptoms in telemarketers. A total of 71 subjects participated in this study: 28 completed the Vocal Symptoms questionnaire to test its reliability, and 43 were randomly assigned to two groups: an 8-week vocal training group (n = 14) and a no-training control group (n = 29), to evaluate the effectiveness of the training program with this tool. The voice training group also filled in the posttraining questionnaire 'Benefits Obtained with Voice Training' (BVT). The vocal training program was not considered effective with regard to the occurrence of vocal symptoms. However, due to a probable increase in symptoms in untrained telemarketers, it can work as a protective factor. According to BVT answers, the vocal training contributed to an improvement in vocal use as a communication tool for telemarketers.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Preventiva, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil. agoa@usp.br
authors.forename: A G A
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Behlau
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gouveia
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013689:Telephone; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014832:Voice Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D014834:Voice Training; D055815:Young Adult