Voice Handicap Index in Iranian Rehabilitation Professors with and Without Vocal Complaints

University professors are a group of professional voice users who report more voice problems than the general population, which may affect their quality of life. The World Health Organization defines health as a multidimensional concept: "A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." The Voice Handicap Index (VHI) can assess university professors' vocal health even before having a voice problem.

We aimed to study the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) in Iranian rehabilitation professors with and without vocal complaints.

This cross-sectional online study enrolled 235 professors (100 men and 135 women) from Iranian rehabilitation colleges selected through stratified random sampling. The inclusion criterion was being a university professor. The assessment tools included VHI and a four-part questionnaire about vocal complaints. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test checked the normality of quantitative data. The Mann-Whitney and chi-square tests compared the two groups. The data were analyzed by SPSS21 at a significance level of 0.05.

The rate of voice problems was significantly more in professors with vocal complaints (29.12%) than in those without complaints (9%), according to VHI30 (P < 0.001). The mean VHI differences between the two groups, with and without vocal complaints, were significant in the scores of the total scale (P < 0.000) and its subtests physical (P < 0.000), emotional (P < 0.000), and functional (P < 0.002). Some information was also obtained about vocal complaints in professors, including the frequency of nine vocal complaints. The frequency of the complaints was 64.1% for vocal fatigue, 61.2% for hoarseness, 24.3% for pain, 16.5% for breathy voice, 15.5% for strain, 13.6% for monotone voice, 11.7% for pitch breaks, 5.8% for aphonia, 4.9% tremor in professors with vocal complaints, 78.64% for the effect of vocal complaints on communication, and 72.8% (acute) and 27.2% (chronic) for the duration of vocal complaints.

Iranian university professors of rehabilitation science with vocal complaints had higher VHI scores than those without vocal complaints, which shows they may be apt to voice problems. Vocal fatigue was the most common voice complaint, and voice tremor was the least. Also, most reported complaints were acute that affected professors' communication. In future research, it seems necessary to design comprehensive prevention and treatment programs focusing on the vocal health of professors in rehabilitation colleges.