title: Evaluation of the effectiveness of a voice training program for teachers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the effects of a voice education program to teachers on vocal function exercise and voice hygiene and compare a pre- and post-vocal exercise for the teacher's voice quality.
  
  
  METHODS
  A random sample of 102 subjects was divided into two groups: experimental group (29 women and seven men) with vocal hygiene and training exercises and control group (52 women and 14 men) with vocal hygiene. Two sessions were held about voice hygiene for the control group and five sessions for the experimental group, one being with reference to the vocal hygiene habit and four vocal exercise sessions. Acoustic analysis of the vowel [i] was made pre- and post-vocal exercise and for the situations of initial and final evaluation of the educational program. Student t test (paired) and Proc MIXED (repeated measures) were used for analyses with level of significance (α = 0.05).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The training exercises, posture and relaxation cervical, decreased the mean of fundamental frequency (f(0)) for men (P = 0.04), and for the phonation, intensity, and frequency exercises, there was a significant increase for f(0) in woman (P = 0.02) and glottal to noise excitation ratio (P = 0.04). There was no statistically significant difference intergroup evaluations after 3 months. The control group presented increased mean voice intensity in the final evaluation (P = 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Voice training exercises showed a positive and immediate impact on the teacher's quality of voice, but it was not sustained longitudinally, suggesting that actions for this purpose should be continued at schools.
authors.affiliation: Piracicaba Dental School, UNICAMP, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Raquel Aparecida
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Pizolato
authors.forename: Maria Inês
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Beltrati Cornacchioni Rehder
authors.forename: Carlos Tadeu
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: dos Santos Dias
authors.forename: Marcelo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Castro Meneghim
authors.forename: Glaúcia Maria
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Bovi Ambrosano
authors.forename: Fábio Luiz
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Mialhe
authors.forename: Antonio Carlos
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Pereira
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004496:Education, Continuing; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014833:Voice Quality; D014834:Voice Training
keywords: Dysphonia; Health Education; Teachers; Voice training