| dc.description.abstract |
Sawmills are industries were trees are cut into sawn wood in dusty processes. The inhalation of wood dust has been associated with upper and lower respiratory symptoms in humans including cough, wheezing, sputum production and shortness of breath which may have an adverse effect on their voice characteristics of saw mill workers. However, till date no study has been done on the voice characteristics of sawmill workers. The purpose of the study was to check their acoustical characteristics. The study was conducted on thirty sawmill workers and compared it on age and gender matched normal controls. The phonation of the vowel /a/ was recorded, fed into CSL 4500 module (Kay Pentax, New Jersey) and further analysis was carried out using the MDVP (Multi Dimensional Voice Program). The fundamental frequency measures, short and long term frequency perturbation measures were compared across both the groups. Significant differences were found in mean fundamental frequency, Jitter %, and RAP in both the groups. The results suggest there is significant difference in the voice characteristics of normal and the sawmill workers. These results also suggest the need for counseling, awareness and vocal hygiene measures among sawmill workers regarding the better care of their voice which will in turn helps in improving their quality of life |
|