The importance of the occupational vocal load for the occurence and treatment of organic voice disorders
Article Category: Original scientific article
Published Online: Jan 05, 2018
Page range: 17 - 24
Received: May 06, 2017
Accepted: Nov 08, 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sjph-2018-0003
Keywords
© 2018 National Institute of Public Health, Slovenia
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
Introduction
The voice represents a basic working tool for carrying out certain occupations. Hoarseness, as a consequence of vocal fold lesions, presents an important cause of work-related absences for voice professionals.
Methods
Our study was designed as a retrospective cohort one. Data on gender, workplace, vocal load and exposure to risk factors for voice disorders of the patients who had surgery in the 2014-2015 period at the tertiary centre due to benign vocal fold lesions were collected from their clinical records. We compared professional voice users (PVU) to subjects with no vocal load at work (NPVU). The SPSS programme, version 22.0, was used for statistical analysis.
Results
From 2014 to 2015, 103 PVU and 132 NPVU were surgically treated for benign vocal fold lesions. In comparison to the second group, loud speech use was reported significantly more often by PVU (40.8% vs. 14.4%), as was a fast speaking rate (22.3% vs. 9.8%) and additional vocal load outside of the workplace (23.3% vs. 12.9%). The time that had passed between the occurrence of the hoarseness and the surgical treatment did not differ between the groups. The majority of patients were satisfied with the outcome of the operation.
Conclusions
Nearly a half of the operated patients had a considerable vocal load at work. An ENT assessment prior to starting a job as well as priority phoniatric treatment of voice disorders for PVU would significantly reduce the costs of work absences and contribute to a speedier recovery and return to the workplace.