A FrontRow sound system can dramatically reduce voice strain for teachers

Most students and teachers are familiar with ‘the teacher voice:' the raised, narrow-range, slightly irritated-sounding voice teachers use to try to compensate for distance and noise in the classroom. Using that voice means teachers are at risk of developing vocal health problems. According to the University of Iowa's National Center for Voice and Speech, half of all teachers experience a voice disorder at some time in their career, compared to about 5 percent of the general population. And sometimes that means they're missing school.

Ironically, the 'teacher voice' can in fact impair communication. Raising the voice emphasizes vowel sounds and tends to mask the consonant sounds that carry around 70% of the meaning in speech (try projecting an 'a' sound versus an 'f' sound).

Teachers using FrontRow take fewer voice-related sick days

Using a FrontRow sound system can help. Because the system is doing the work of projecting the teacher's voice, he or she can speak in a normal tone of voice — or even whisper — and still be heard clearly. This not only greatly reduces voice strain while preserving speech clarity, it also helps the teacher employ a fuller range of expression and emphasis in communicating with students, making for a more engaging, multi-tonal presentation style.

In a survey of 56 Dubuque (Iowa) public school teachers, researchers compared sick days due to voice or throat problems before and after using a sound system. Teachers using the technology reported a decline from an average of .93 sick days per year to .34 sick days per year — a reduction of 63%.