Perceptions and Practices of Vocal Warm-Up Exercises among School Teachers-A Survey

Purpose: Occupational vocal demands have been identified to exacerbate vocal issues. Vocal warm-up exercises are strongly believed to help in the prevention of vocal fold damage in professional voice users. The study intended to recognize the perceptions and practices of vocal warm-up exercises among school teachers. Methods: A cross-sectional study design involving sixty primary school teachers working in the Kancheepuram District was adopted. A 30-item questionnaire containing questions related to demographic details, teaching habits, and vocal warm-up exercises, practice of vocal hygiene, and perceptions about the importance and effects of vocal warm-up on their voice ability was developed. The questionnaire was content validated by three Speech-Language Pathologists with more than 5 years of experience. Thus, a survey was conducted using the final set of questionnaires. Results: 37% of the teachers had voice problems whereas 30% reported having inconsistent voice issues. 55% have reported practicing breathing exercises as a part of a warm-up for their voice usage. 36% were found to be unaware of any types of exercises or practice of warm-up exercises for voice usage. However, all the subjects accepted the importance of vocal warm-up and hygiene practices to preserve their voice quality. Conclusions: Thus, the findings of the current study will help to create awareness of the importance of voice quality, vocal warm-up, and hygiene practices. It will assist in providing counselling and vocal rehabilitation among professional voice users like teachers.