Evaluating the Impact of Vocal Health Education on Mask-wearing Workers During COVID-19

Health Behavior Clinical Trial

Official title:

Developing Educational Modules to Improve Communication and Vocal Health Among Mask-wearing Healthcare Workers: Phase 2 of the COVID-19 Critical Community Challenge Grant

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04858542
• Other study ID #: 2020-0889
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: February 26, 2021
• Est. completion date: September 1, 2021

Study information

• Verified date: December 2021
• Source: University of Cincinnati
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this clinical trial is to understand how viewing educational health modules impacts vocal health behaviors in mask-wearing healthcare workers.

Description:

Results of the investigators' previous work showed that mask-wearing healthcare workers have difficulty with voice and communication. Healthcare workers reported significant increases in vocal effort and dyspnea while wearing masks, and showed greater effort and poorer vocal quality at the end of the workday compared to the beginning of the day. Despite these negative changes, very few healthcare workers reported using any type of communication strategy (e.g., taking breaks, using gestures). Therefore, the investigators developed educational modules to address the voice and communication problems facing this population. This clinical trial plans to evaluate how these educational modules impact subjective/objective voice and communication measures in mask-wearing healthcare workers.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 5
• Est. completion date: September 1, 2021
• Est. primary completion date: May 1, 2021
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• English Speaker

• Occupational voice user who is required to wear a mask at work

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of neurological disorder or disease

• History of head/neck cancer

• Current speech, language, voice, or hearing problem/disorder

• Currently sick or have been sick within the last 14 days, or is waiting on a COVID-19 test result

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Health Behavior

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Educational Vocal Health Modules
We have developed four educational health modules (total duration of approximately 30 minutes). First, these modules explain how masks impact communication and voice, then they describe health strategies to improve communication and voice, and finally, they give real-life examples of how the strategies can be implemented into the work setting.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Victoria McKenna	Cincinnati	Ohio

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Cincinnati

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Change in amount of Vocal Effort after 1 week	A self-perceptual rating of voice exertion and how hard it is to make a voice. The vocal effort scale will be rated on a 100-mm visual analog scale in which the left side (score of 0) indicates "no effort" to produce a voice, and the right side (score of 100) indicates "the most effort" to create a voice.	Assessed prior to module viewing and again 1-week later
Primary	Learning of Health Information	Answer questions about the content of the module (short answer, multiple choice, true/false)	Assessed immediately after viewing the modules
Secondary	Change in Relative fundamental frequency	An acoustic measure that characterizes change in fundamental frequency during voicing transitions. Participants will complete vowel-voiceless consonant-vowel combinations (e.g., /ifi/) and relative fundamental frequency will be determined.	Assessed prior to viewing modules, and then 1-week later
Secondary	Module Information Retention	Answer question about the content of the modules (short answer, multiple choice, true/false)	Assessed at second session

External Links

•   Lab website with contact information