Background: Sustained vowels are important vocal tasks that have been investigated in discriminating voice disorders using acoustic analysis. To date, no study has combined vowel acoustic measures only that evaluate major aspects of the pathological voice signals in voice disorder discrimination. Aims: To investigate the value of vowel acoustic…

Background: Although psychological factors have been implicated in patients with functional dysphonia (FD), conventional voice therapy (CVT) typically targets the aberrant voice symptoms exclusively. Yet, CVT is not always successful, and in view of the significant adverse quality of life impact combined with the financial burden on the healthcare…

Teachers are at high risk of voice disorders due to the heavy vocal demand of their profession as well as diverse classroom conditions that can stress the voice. Healthy vocal hygiene practices reduce this risk, but many teachers lack knowledge in these areas or have misconceptions about ways to improve their vocal health. This study aimed to…

This article reviews the elevated prevalence and complex nature of voice complaints among teachers, highlighting their profound impact on students' academic performance, teachers' well-being, and overall school productivity. The text discusses the significance of teachers as occupational voice users, provides statistics on the prevalence,…

Background: Based on stakeholder conversations, speech and language therapists have anecdotally observed cases of dysphagia with suspected laryngeal hypersensitivity. These presentations have been coined as 'muscle tension dysphagia' often with concurrent laryngeal sensitivity symptoms. However, the role of laryngeal hypersensitivity in dysphagia…

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) commonly results in the inability to produce natural speech, making speech-generating devices (SGDs) important. Historically, synthetic voices generated by SGDs were neither unique, nor age- or dialect-appropriate, which depersonalized SGD use. Voices generated by SGDs can now be customized via voice banking and…

Introduction: Speech Language Therapy First Point of Contact Clinic (SLT-FPOCC) models can assist assessment of low-risk patient populations referred to ear, nose and throat (ENT) services. To further improve ENT waitlist management and compliance with best-practice care, consideration of other low-risk populations that could be safely managed…

Purpose: This study was designed based on the need to verify the effectiveness of education in the vocology area concerning refining perceptual auditory skills. The purpose of the project described in this paper was to examine the effect of knowledge and skills training during a 2-week voice disorders graduate course on auditory-perceptual skills…

Background: Over 200,000 patients are referred onto the suspected head and neck cancer (HNC) pathway annually in the UK, with around 3% receiving a cancer diagnosis. With new HNC advancements in identifying patients at low risk of a cancer diagnosis, one proposal is a speech and language therapy (SLT)-led first point of contact clinic for low-risk…

Background: Published best-practice guidelines and standardized protocols for voice assessment recommend multidisciplinary evaluation utilizing a comprehensive range of clinical measures. Previous studies report variations in assessment practices when compared with these guidelines. Aims: To provide an up-to-date evaluation of current global…