The Effect of Classroom Capacity on Vocal Fatigue as Quantified by the Vocal Fatigue Index.
Russell E Banks, Pasquale Bottalico, Eric J Hunter
PMID 29232686WHAT IT FOUND
Female teachers reported more tired voices and more voice pain in larger classrooms.
The highest average scores came from very large rooms. Recovery with rest did not track classroom size clearly.
Key findings
01Female teachers reported more tired voices in larger classrooms, with mean performance scores 12.38 in small rooms and 22.55 in very large rooms.
02Female teachers reported more voice pain in larger classrooms, with mean pain scores 4.5 in small rooms and 9.60 in very large rooms.
03Recovery with rest did not show a clear room size pattern.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study analysed only female teachers, so it says little about male teachers. It was a survey of reported classroom size and reported fatigue, so it cannot show that larger rooms caused vocal fatigue. Very large rooms had 11 respondents, so that group is small. The survey asked teachers to choose a room-size category; it did not report measured room size, noise, or reverberation. Only fully completed surveys were analysed, and 506 of 570 respondents met that rule. The survey did not account for cultural differences or native languages. The age relationship was curved, so age did not simply add risk in a straight line.
Declared interests
Research support from NIH is listed as a publication type. The supplied text does not report author conflicts.
The easy way to misread this
Do not tell a teacher that a smaller classroom will reduce vocal fatigue. This survey reports associations, not a tested intervention, and the very large room group had only 11 respondents.