title: Teachers' Perception of Vocal Quality Compared With Professional Perception.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference in teachers' self-perception of their own voices compared with a voice clinician's perceptual assessment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants included 45 elementary school (grades 1-8) teachers (34 females, 11 males) in public and private schools, with a mean age of 38.9 and age ranging from 24 to 65 years. The procedures included a demographic questionnaire, a self-assessment scale, and perceptual analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found no difference when comparing overall vocal deviation of connected speech perceived by the teachers and the voice clinician (P = 0.509). However, the sustained vowel samples were perceived differently (P = 0.015). When comparing the teachers' and the voice clinician's perception of vocal qualities in both the vowel and the connected speech samples, we observed that they perceive roughness (P < 0.001 for both samples) and strain (P = 0.005 for vowel and P = 0.019 for connected speech) differently; however, breathiness is perceived similarly for both the vowel and the connected speech samples (P = 0.591 for vowel and P = 0.134 for connected speech). Increase in the numbers of years teaching showed a significant correlation with increase in teachers' perception of frequency of overall deviation (r = .870; P < 0.001). Additionally, increase in number of students in class was associated with increase in teachers' perception of frequency of strain (r = .819) (P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings indicate that the teachers' perception corresponds partially with the clinician's perceptual analysis. A similar impression about the voice deviation was found only when comparing the perceptual analysis of connected speech.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Speech-Language Pathology, Touro College, Brooklyn, New York.
authors.forename: Ellie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Selevan
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Speech-Language Pathology, Touro College, Brooklyn, New York.
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schorr
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Speech-Language Pathology, Touro College, Brooklyn, New York.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pekarsky
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Speech-Language Pathology, Touro College, Brooklyn, New York.
authors.forename: Sheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mitta
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Speech-Language Pathology, Touro College, Brooklyn, New York.. Electronic address: saralediamont@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Diamont
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Speech-Language Pathology, Touro College, Brooklyn, New York.
authors.forename: Elisheva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stept
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Speech-Language Pathology, Touro College, Brooklyn, New York.
authors.forename: Gisele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Oliveira
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D016272:Occupational Health; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D000070777:School Teachers / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013067:Speech Perception; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D013066:Speech-Language Pathology / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014832:Voice Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D014833:Voice Quality; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: perceptual analysis; professional voice use; vocal quality perception; voice disorders; voice perception