A vocal hygiene program for school-age children and parents in Hong Kong

Abstract

This study investigated the effectiveness of a vocal hygiene program for school-age children and parents in Hong Kong. A total of seventy-three parents and thirty-seven children participated in the study. Fifty-six parents attended a seminar on vocal hygiene and twenty children participated in four half-hour sessions about vocal hygiene on a weekly basis. The control group consisted of seventeen parents and their children. Parents' perception on voice use knowledge, attitude and practice, children's voice use knowledge and voice quality were evaluated. Analysis of results revealed significant improvement in children's voice use knowledge, significant decrease in the acoustic parameter: jitter (RAP) and shimmer (APQ) in Experimental group. Similar results were found in the Control group that there were significant improvement in knowledge score and significant decrease in noise-to-harmonic ratio. However, parents in the Experimental group showed similar performance to the Control group after attending the talk in their knowledge, attitude and practice toward voice care. The results suggest that school-age children may improve their knowledge of vocal hygiene by receiving informative leaflets instead of interactive workshops. Also, one single seminar may not be sufficient to change parents' knowledge, attitude and practice toward voice care. More sessions including sharing sessions or discussion can be provided to parents.