Self-perception of voice and knowledge of vocal health and hygiene in Candomblé religious leaders in Brazil.
Kenya Ayo-Kianga da Silva Faustino, Felipe Moreti, Mara Behlau
PMID 39109747WHAT IT FOUND
Candomblé religious leaders reported voice and throat symptoms at a level associated with voice disorder and singing voice handicap, especially women.
Their vocal health knowledge was good, but it was not linked to fewer symptoms.
Key findings
01Mean voice symptom score was 23.04, above the 16-point cutoff separating dysphonic from vocally healthy people, and mean singing handicap total was 25.66.
02Mean vocal health and hygiene knowledge score was 23.54, within the normal range for the 23-point cutoff for healthy individuals, but knowledge was not correlated with current voice self-assessment.
0389.29% had not visited an otorhinolaryngologist for voice problems in the previous year, and 83.04% had never had speech-language pathology therapy.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional and used questionnaires, so it cannot show that poor vocal health knowledge caused symptoms or that teaching knowledge would reduce symptoms. Recruitment was through known leaders, snowball sampling, social media, and WhatsApp groups, and the paper does not state how representative these 112 leaders are of all Candomblé leaders. The results are based on self-perception and self-report, with no objective voice measurement reported. The MSHI has no Brazilian Portuguese cutoff reported, so its score cannot be classified against a validated local threshold. The sample included only leaders who held leadership positions and sang in religious rites, so it does not describe followers who do not sing or non-leaders.
Declared interests
The authors declared no financial support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that teaching vocal health and hygiene will reduce voice symptoms in Candomblé religious leaders. The leaders had good knowledge, but knowledge was not correlated with current voice self-assessment, and the study did not test an educational intervention.