Preliminary study for the validation of the Chilean version of the Vocal Tract Discomfort-VTD in the teaching population

Abstract

Due to the vocal load to which voice professionals, such as teachers, are exposed, voice disorders and vocal misuse are frequent in this group, which makes it necessary to have quick and simple research instruments for an early diagnosis of vocal symptoms. The objective of this study is to carry out an adaptation and preliminary validation of the guideline "Vocal Tract Discomfort Scale (VTD)" to Chilean Spanish in teachers. The Spanish translation of the original instrument by two native experts and then the back-translation by two experts in English to determine concordances and discrepancies was first obtained. Then, the validation of appearance and content was carried out by a group of experts made up of two methodologists and five speech therapists with experience in the vocal area. Criterion validity was obtained through the correlation between the scale under study and the Voice Handicap Index in its validated version in Spanish as a gold-standard test, for which it was applied to a sample of 31 teachers. The validation of the VTD scale is reliable and provides speech therapists with a simple and understandable tool for understanding the impact generated in people with dysphonia, particularly in voice professionals such as teachers.