O uso da voz em sala de aula: o caso dos professores readaptados por disfonia 2005-2006

Abstract

The prevalence of vocal sickness has increased in teachers, according to national and world literature. Several authors report the association between the use of voice and dysphonia in various professional categories. The individual factors related to the appearance andaggravation of the dysphonic condition are generally known. The main purpose of this work is to describe the concept of voice use in classroom for teachers who have returned to teaching, after being on a sick leave as a result of dysphonia. Five basic education teachers of BeloHorizontes local schools have been studied through a qualitative, observational and descriptive investigation. The techniques and procedures of the research entailed the Ergonomic Analysis of Labor proposed by The French-Belgian school of ergonomy. The fieldtest period extended from March to June, 2006, totaling 104 hours of observation, which occurred during different moments of daily teaching periods: in classroom context and other school environments. Simultaneous and self-confrontation interviews were carried out so as toclarify the vocal behavior observed. It was noticed that while performing teaching objectives, the teachers effectuated specific vocal adjustments, making use of spoken and sung speech in classroom. The adjustments were prescribed to two groups, as strategies of hypervocal solicitation and also vocal self-protection. Vocal and health hygiene prescriptions, formulated in the field of Speech Therapy addressed to the teaching staff are discussed at the end of this work, under the parameters of Public Health.