Singers are considered elite vocal performers who require a flawlessly functioning voice to carry out their professional duties. It is therefore essential that they are educated about vocal health and appropriate voice care. In the theoretical part of this thesis, we examined the characteristics of the singing voice, the types of voice disorders singers commonly face, the process of treating voice disorders—particularly from the perspective of speech and language pathology—and the structure of education for singers in Slovenia, with an emphasis on vocal health and knowledge about voice care. The empirical part of the thesis aimed to explore how much future professional singers know about voice care, what vocal habits they exhibit, and what voice-related difficulties they face.
The study was conducted among high school and university-level vocal students in Slovenia. It included both students of voice departments and their peers from the same educational institutions who sing in choirs. Participants completed a questionnaire that gathered information about their vocal habits, experiences with voice problems, and beliefs regarding voice care principles. This survey also included the Slovenian version of the SVHI-10 questionnaire, which was translated specifically for this study.
The results indicate that voice problems are present among both voice and non-voice department participants, though the former demonstrated significantly greater knowledge of vocal hygiene. On average, however, understanding of voice care principles was found to be limited. Greater knowledge was associated with longer duration of vocal training, the importance participants attributed to singing in their lives, and prior attendance at a voice hygiene education session. Notably, only half of the voice department participants had received such education before the study. Voice department participants were also more frequently treated for voice issues and displayed more poor vocal habits. According to the SVHI-10 results, most participants did not report significant vocal impairment at the time of the study. Nevertheless, the questionnaire revealed that non-voice department participants felt more burdened by their voice problems. The findings showed ambiguous links between voice care knowledge and the actual implementation of healthy vocal behavior in practice.
The study highlights the lack of curricular integration of vocal health and hygiene in singer training programs, which appears not to vary across educational levels. The field of speech-language pathology should take on a preventive role by offering programs that teach singers proper voice use. Furthermore, the study underscores the need for stronger collaboration between speech-language pathology and music pedagogy.
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