Middle Eastern Journal of Disability Studies

Abstract
Background and objective: Various studies have shown that teachers, especially teachers of lower grades, are at relatively high risks of voice problems. Recent research has also shown that gender, teaching venue and the characteristics of students can aggravate the risk of voice problems. So far the problem has not been studied in the context of special schools. The present research is an attempt to address this gap.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, convenience sampling was used to recruit 88 teachers from among elementary schools teachers working at ordinary and special schools in equal numbers. The inclusion criteria were being female and being in the age range of 26-40 years old. The participants from the ordinary and special schools were matched in terms of teaching experience. The research instrument was Voice Handicap Index. The questionnaire consists of three sub-tests, namely, functional, physical and emotional components. Kolmogorov–Smirnov test was used to determine the normal distribution of data. Given that scores were not normal, Mann-whitney and Chi-Square test were used to compare scores between the two groups.  The significance level was set at p<0. 05.
Results: The results showed that 31. 8 percent of special schools teachers and 13. 6 percent of ordinary schools teachers had voice problems. The difference was statistically significant (p value = 0. 040).   In both groups of teachers received the highest mean scores in the physical sub-test and lowest in the functional component.  All mean scores in special schools teachers were higher than those in the ordinary schools. The mean scores of the teachers of special and ordinary schools in the physical sub-test were (7.79±6.64) (4±3.23) respectively. Also the total means in special schools and ordinary schools were (15.63±15.92) and (7. 25±5.59) respectively. The differences in the physical sub-test were significant between the two groups. Teachers of elementary in special schools, experienced voice problems twice as much as the teachers of ordinary schools (OR=2.333).
Conclusion: It is essential to hold training classes by experts to increase awareness of and employ teaching preventive techniques and proper use of voice for this group of professional voice users to increase the quality of education.