Inside the voice (Chapter 1: Vocal health and awareness)

The voice is our primary communication tool. It’s a tool that teachers in particular rely on in their day-to-day work, yet despite this, vocal health is often taken for granted among the teaching profession. Extensive research has shown that teachers are affected more than other professions by vocal ill-health. It has also shown that teachers know worryingly little about how to look after their voices.   

Chapter 1 of Inside the voice outlines the following facts: 

• How teachers are much more likely to suffer vocal ill-health than the public at large.

• Why the scale of the problem is greatest among primary school teachers.

• Why female voices are more susceptible to problems than male voices, a fact that disproportionately affects primary schools, where teaching staff are predominantly female.

• How voice care is almost non-existent in teacher training.

• How vocal ill-health happens because of organic illness, high vocal loading, poor technique or irritants.

• How children’s voices also suffer from problems. 

Click the ‘Inside the voice (Chapter 1: Vocal health and awareness)’ link below to find out more.

Don’t worry though! Once you understand the scale of the problem, there are many things you can do to avoid problems. Reading the rest of the chapters of Inside the voice will provide you with all you need to know.