Voice disorders in professional Icelandic singers: Frequency, symptoms and risk factors

Inngangur: Það er vel þekkt að raddvandi getur haft hamlandi áhrif á líf fólks. Sérstaklega fyrir einstaklinga sem nota rödd sína í atvinnuskyni en margar rannsóknir gefa til kynna aukna áhættu á raddvanda meðal þess hóps. Markmið: Að afla upplýsinga um raddvanda íslenskra atvinnusöngvurum með áherslu á tíðni, helstu einkenni og áhættuþætti raddvanda. Bornir voru saman tveir hópar atvinnusöngvara, þ.e. klassísir söngvarar annars vegar (KS-söngvarar) og söngvara með annan söngstíl en klassískan hins vegar (AS-söngvarar). Aflað var upplýsinga um tíðni, áhættuþætti og einkenni raddvanda hjá þessum hópum og leitast eftir að greina mun á milli hópanna tveggja. Einnig var skoðað hvort lengd söngmenntunar hefði tengsl við raddvanda. Aðferð: Leitað var eftir þátttakendum hjá FÍH, tveimur umboðsskrifstofum söngvara; Prime og Promo ehf og á þremur hópum söngvara á Fésbók. Þátttakendur svöruðu rafrænum spurningalista sem innihélt 83 spurningar um bakgrunn þátttakenda, söngmenntun, umhverfi, lífsvenjur, heilsufar og raddvanda. Þátttakendur voru 106, 75 konur og 31 karl. Niðurstöður: Tíðni raddvanda var nokkuð há meðal atvinnusöngvara. Martækt fleiri AS-söngvarar töldu sig hafa verið með raddvanda áður samanborið við KS-söngvara. Helstu einkenni raddvanda voru raddþreyta, tímabundin hæsi og erfiðleikar með að ná hæstu tónunum. Tíðni flestra raddeinkenna var hærri meðal AS-söngvara samanborið við KS-söngvara. Bakflæði var algengara meðal þeirra sem voru með raddvanda og söngvarar með raddvanda eru líklegri til að hita oftar upp röddina en aðrir. KS-söngvarar upplifðu meiri kvíða í tengslum við raddvandann og voru líklegri til að meta raddvanda sinn alvarlegan en AS-söngvarar. Upphaf raddvanda var yfirleitt tengdur við mikla raddnotkun og álag annars vegar eða veikindi og kvef hins vegar. Ályktun: Niðurstöður rannsóknarinnar benda til þess að raddvandi sé töluvert algengur meðal atvinnusöngvara líkt og aðrar rannsóknir hafa gefið til kynna. Einnig benda niðurstöður til að söngvarar með annars konar söngstíl en klassískan séu í meiri hættu á að eiga við raddvanda. Bakflæði virðist vera stór áhættuþáttur þegar kemur að raddvanda atvinnusöngvara en þörf er á frekari rannsóknum á þáttum sem taldir eru auka áhættu á raddvanda þessa hóps.Background: It is well known that voice problems can have a negative effect on people’s lives. Voice problems can have an especially great effect on people who use their voices professionally. Many studies have indicated an increased risk of voice disorders amongst that group. Purpose: To gather data on voice disorders in professional Icelandic singers with emphasis on frequency, symptoms and risk factors. Also, to look at difference in frequency, symptoms and risk factors of voice disorders between two groups of professional singers; classical singers (CS-singers) and singers of other type of music (AS-singers). Moreover, it was hypothesized that length of singing education was related to decrease in voice disorders. Method: Participants were professional Icelandic singers and they were recruited from The Union of Icelandic musicians (FÍH), two agencies; Prime and Promo ehf. and three Facebook groups of singers. Participants filled out an online survey which contained 83 questions on background, singing education, environment, health and voice problems. Participants were 106, 75 were female and 31 male. Results: Frequency of voice problems was quite high amongst professional singers. There were significantly more AS-singers with former history of voice problems than classical singers. The most common voice complaints were vocal fatigue, hoarseness and loss of high notes. Singers without classical training had more voice complaints than the singers with classical training. Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) was reliably connected to current voice problems. It was also more likely that singers with voice problems did vocal warm-up exercises before a performance. No connection was found between the length of singing education and voice problems. The results indicate that CS-singers experience more anxiety related to their voice problems and they also reported their voice problems as more serious than AS-singers. Most participants reported that their voice problem was connected to frequent voice use and stress or illness. Conclusion: The results of this study are in accordance with other research which indicate a high frequency of voice problems amongst professional singers. Singers with other singing styles than classical also seem to be at more risk of having a voice problem. GERD seems to be a great risk factor when it comes to voice problems in professional singers but there is need for more research on presumed risk factors of voice problems amongst that group