The impact of dysphonic voices of teachers on children’s comprehension of spoken language

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of teachers’ dysphonic voices on children’s listening comprehension. One hundred and thirty four students studying Grade Three and Four were recruited from local primary schools in Hong Kong. They were required to listen to six passages, three in Cantonese and three in English, which were either read in normal, mildly dysphonic or severely dysphonic voices. The students were required to complete six multiple-choice comprehension questions upon listening to each passage. Comprehension performance across languages, dysphonic severities, genders and question types were examined. The results showed that listening comprehension was significantly poorer even when speaker’s voice quality was mildly impaired. Performance in Cantonese was generally better than English but no significant difference in the pattern of decline was found. Both male and female suffered to similar extent under dysphonic situations. Differences in performance in various question types were discussed. These findings support the urgent need to implement voice care education for the teaching profession.