The Prevalence and Impact of Voice Problems in Nonprofessional Voice Users: Preliminary Findings

Background: Studies reporting the prevalence of voice problems in the non-professional voice users are rare. Thus, the objective of this preliminary investigation was to explore; (1) the prevalence of self-reported voice problems, and (2) its impact on the nonprofessional voice users. Method: This was a cross-sectional survey that was distributed to 500 nonprofessional voice users working in different educational institutions in the Manipal city of Karnataka state, India. The results of the study are discussed based on the 426 qualified questionnaire responses. Results: The lifetime prevalence of voice problem was 21.6% (n = 92), with 4.9% (n = 21) of the participants reporting it on the day of the survey. The self-reported prevalence of voice problems was significantly higher (P = 0.001) in female (64%, n = 59) as compared to male participants (35.8%, n = 33). Voice problems affected job performance by 34.7% (n = 32) and caused work absenteeism in 11.9% (n = 11). Conclusions: The results of this preliminary study indicated that a significant number of nonprofessional voice users suffer from voice problems, and it has a significant impact on their job performance. Hence, in future large scale, epidemiological studies are needed with randomly selected samples of different age groups, gender, income status, educational level, area of residence to understand the possible risk factors, and impact of voice problem on the quality of life in general working and not working nonprofessional voice users in India.