Relationship between subjective voice complaints and acoustic parameters in female teachers' voices

The aim of the study was to identify the acoustic correlates of female teachers' subjective voice complaints by recording their voices in their working environment. The subjects made recordings during lessons (N = 10) and breaks (N = 11). The subjects were divided into 2 groups: those with few voice complaints (FC group) and those with many voice complaints (MC group). The speech sample made in the breaks was maximally sustained /a/, from which fundamental frequency (F-0), jitter, and shimmer were analyzed. The classroom samples were analyzed for F-0, sound pressure level (SPL), and F-0 time (the active vibration time of the vocal folds). Additionally, an index for assessing voice loading is presented. The results revealed a tendency of the MC group to have higher F-0 and lower SPL and perturbation values than the FC group. The index values correlated moderately with the subjective vocal complaints.