Slovenia has a rich choral tradition, and choral singing is systematically supported within the
educational system. Many children encounter choral singing already in preschool and, even more
commonly, through school choirs during primary education. Singing in childhood contributes to
the development of musical, social, and emotional skills. However, children's voice may also be
exposed to excessive vocal load, particularly when appropriate vocal guidance and proper vocal
care are not provided. International studies have reported inconsistent findings regarding the
beneficial and adverse effects of choir singing on vocal health, while this topic has not yet been
thoroughly investigated in Slovenia.
The theoretical part of this thesis defines the concept of voice and describes its production as well
as developmental changes that occur during childhood and adolescence. It presents the
characteristics of the singing voice and provides a more detailed overview of choral singing,
highlighting the importance of the choral tradition in Slovenia, particularly within the education
system. Furthermore, it discusses the significance of choral singing for the individual and its
influence on vocal abilities. The thesis then defines voice disorders and reviews the existing
evidence on the impact of choral singing on the voice and vocal problems in children and
adolescents. Particular attention is given to the importance of proper vocal technique and vocal
warm-up, as well as to the role of the choir conductor in working with young singers. Finally, the
concept of vocal hygiene and the principles of appropriate vocal care are presented, together with
a review of previous findings on singers’ knowledge of vocal care.
The aim of this study is to investigate vocal problems in children who sing in school choirs and to
assess their knowledge of vocal care, comparing the findings with those of their peers who do not
participate in school choirs. The empirical part of the study employed three questionnaires (the
VHI-9i, the sVHI-10 and a questionnaire assessing knowledge of vocal care) to examine the
frequency of the vocal problems in speaking and singing, the extent to which these difficulties
interfere with their daily life, as well as children’s knowledge of appropriate vocal care. In addition,
children’s self-ratings of hoarseness and their vocal and speech habits, choir conductor ratings,
and perceptual voice assessments of spontaneous speech performed independently by a speech and
language therapy student and a phoniatric specialist are collected and included in the analysis.
The study included 110 children attending the 3rd to the 9th grades of primary school. The results
showed that, on average, children who sing in school choirs experience less interference due to
vocal difficulties while singing than their non-singing peers. No statistically significant differences
were found between the groups regarding vocal problems in speaking. Expert perceptual voice
assessments also indicated that choir singers were, on average, less hoarse than non-singers. A
statistically significant positive correlation was found between the number of years of participation
in a school choir and the frequency of singing-related vocal problems. Choir singers achieved
higher scores on the vocal care knowledge questionnaire than non-singers. Furthermore,
statistically significant positive correlations were found between age, years of participation in a
school choir, participation in an additional choir outside school, and knowledge of vocal care. No
statistically significant association was found between knowledge of vocal care and the frequency
of vocal problems.
The results of our study confirmed that children who sing in school choirs experience less
interference from vocal difficulties in their everyday lives. In addition, they have better knowledge
of the principles of appropriate voice care than non-singers, as they receive more information about
vocal hygiene, particularly from choir conductors. We therefore confirmed that participation in a
school choir may have a positive effect on children's vocal health. At the same time, the results
revealed the need for systematic approach to vocal prevention and education.
|
