Scientific literature supports that teachers are at greater risk for voice disorders than the general population. In the classroom, the teacher's voice represents the main communication tool. Optimal voice use is indispensable to ensure effective teaching and preserve the teacher's vocal health. This project investigates how virtual reality (VR) facilitates the learning of effective vocal skills and their application in real-world contexts. Based on acoustic analyses and self-assessment scales, the investigators compare 100 future teachers randomly assigned in two groups. The experimental group (n=50) receives a voice training by VR simulations and voice information. The control group (n=50) only receives voice information.
Experimental group participants receive direct method (three 1-hour sessions of voice training by virtual reality simulations over a course of 3 weeks) and indirect method (one 1-hour session of information on voice function and voice hygiene). Control group participants receive indirect method (one 1-hour session of information on voice function and voice hygiene).
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
41
Learning effective vocal skills using speech therapy exercises and virtual reality simulations.
Information on voice function and voice hygiene.
Université de Liège
Liège, Wallonia, Belgium
Self-perceived voice changes between the baseline and the end of the intervention
Self-assessment of perceived vocal effort using the Adapted BORG Category Ratio (CR-10) physical exertion scale. On the scale, verbal expressions regarding vocal effort are anchored to the correct positions on a logarithmic ratio scale from zero (No vocal effort at all) to 10 (Maximum vocal effort), according to their quantitative meaning.
Time frame: 3 weeks
Voice frequency changes between the baseline and the end of the intervention
Acoustic measurements of participants' voice frequency (in hertz) when speaking with and without background noise.
Time frame: 3 weeks
Voice intensity changes between the baseline and the end of the intervention
Acoustic measurements of participants' voice intensity (in dB) when speaking with and without background noise.
Time frame: 3 weeks
Voice spectrum changes between the baseline and the end of the intervention
Acoustic measurements of participants' voice spectrum (in Hertz) when speaking with and without background noise.
Time frame: 3 weeks
Speech rate changes between the baseline and the end of the intervention
Measurements of participants' speech rate (in syllables per second) when speaking with and without background noise.
Time frame: 3 weeks
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