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2020/2021

Voice Education and Health

Code: 101726 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500893 Speech therapy OT 4 2
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Josefa Martín Galán
Email:
Josefa.Martin@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
catalan (cat)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites.

Objectives and Contextualisation

At the end of this course students will be able to:

  • Be fully aware of the importance of the body attitude and the respiration to achieve a good phonation.

 

  • Take consciousness of their own vocal tract and its vocal and expressive possibilities.

 

  • Know basic corporal, respiratory and vocal resources for a good voice emission.

 

  • Know how to find the proper use of the elements that determine the quality and efficiency of the vocal emission: the timbre, the intonation, the intensity, the expressiveness, the articulation and the projection.

 

  • Experiment their own communicative capacities individually and in group in order to develop habits of self-observation and observation of others as indispensable tools of the re-education process.

 

  • Know and experience vocal re-education exercises to overcome vocal disorders.

Competences

  • Analyse and synthesise information.
  • Design and carry out speech-therapy treatment, whether individual or at group level, establishing objectives and phases, with more efficient and suitable methods, techniques and resources, attending to the distinct developmental phases of human beings.
  • Design, implement and evaluate actions aimed at preventing communication and language disorders.
  • Ethically commit oneself to quality of performance.
  • Have a strategic and flexible attitude to learning.
  • Integrate the foundations of biology (anatomy and physiology), psychology (evolutionary processes and development), language and teaching as these relate to speech-therapy intervention in communication, language, speech, hearing, voice and non-verbal oral functions.
  • Observe and listen actively throughout the various processes of speech therapy intervention.
  • Present adequate speech production, language structure and voice quality.
  • Understand, integrate and relate new knowledge deriving from autonomous learning.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse and synthesise.
  2. Analyse postural and respiratory elements in others and their relationship with the quality of voice emitted, as well as potential risk factors in voice disorders.
  3. Appropriate use of the elements that determine the quality and efficiency in the utterance: the timbre, intonation, intensity, expressiveness, articulation, projection.
  4. Describe and experience vocal reeducation exercises to solve vocal disorders.
  5. Describe the biological basis (anatomy and physiology) of speech therapy intervention in voice disorders, with special emphasis on posture and breathing elements.
  6. Describe the influence of personal experience in voice and body language in order to create a flexible and effective speech therapy task.
  7. Ethically commit oneself to quality of performance.
  8. Explain the importance of body stance and breathing in good phonation.
  9. Explain the importance of the body, its energy dynamics and body stance as essential elements in good phonation and communication.
  10. Have a strategic and flexible attitude to learning.
  11. Understand, integrate and relate new knowledge deriving from autonomous learning.
  12. Use basic body, breathing and vocal resources for a good issuance of voice and teach those resources to others in order to prevent the occurrence of voice disorders caused by bad habits.

Content

 

1.     The voice and the human communication:

a)    The body, vocal instrument.

b)    Vocal tract.

c)    Speech therapy exploration of the voice: vocal balance and phonatory habit.

  1. Body Attitude:

a)    Awareness of the own body attitude (tensions, blockages…)

b)    Observation of body posture and verticality.

c)    Basic techniques of relaxation.

d)    Exercises to correct the body attitude: feet, knees, pelvis, cervical and lumbar hyperlordosis, body axis, images.

  1. Respiration

a)    Physiological and spontaneous respiration product of a good body attitude.

b)    Observation of the type of breathing: clavicular, abdominal, intercostal and costo-diaphragmatic.

c)    Alterations in breathing pattern: diaphragmatic blockage.

d)    Exercises to improve respiratory dynamics: diaphragmatic release and phono-respiratory coordination.

  1. Phonation

a)    Speech organs

b)    Laryngeal mechanisms: Mechanism I and Mechanism II

c)    Resonances

d)    Sound amplification

e)    Expression, intensity, timbre and articulation

  1. Vocal care resources

Methodology

 

• Courses are eminently practical. Different body, respiratory and vocal exercises will be proposed, and they will be worked individually or in groups. It is highly recommended to wear comfortable clothes. 
• Tutoring to support the realization of the students’ work, where their body and vocal evolution will be assessed. 
• Due to the practical nature of this course, regular attendance is indispensable. 80% attendance will be required in order to be able to opt for the evaluation of the contents worked. 
 
“N.B. The proposed teaching and assessment methodologies may experience some modifications as a result of the restrictions on face-to-face learning imposed by the health authorities. The teaching staff will use the Moodle classroom or the usual communication channel to specify whether the different directed and assessment activities are to be carried out on site or online, as instructed by the Faculty”.
 

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Individual practice of corporal and vocal exercises 36 1.44 1, 11, 4, 10, 12
Type: Supervised      
Tutorials to support personal work 14 0.56
Type: Autonomous      
Journal of reflection on resonators and bucco-organs 40 1.6 1, 11, 7, 4, 10, 3
Reflection journals on body attitude and breathing 40 1.6 2, 1, 11, 7, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12

Assessment

The competences of this course will be evaluated as follows:
• Continuous assessment of the exercises proposed in class (10%)
• Two orals presentations where the corporal and vocal evolution of the work done in class will be evaluated. Students will record an initial and a final video in order to compare the evolution of the phonatory habit (40% the first presentation-40% the second presentation)
• Written exam (10%)
 

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
1. Continuous evaluation of the exercises presented in class_From week 1 to week 14 (2nd semester) 10% 10 0.4 2, 5, 9, 12
2. Oral presentation: vocal evolution_Weeks 14,15 and 17 (2nd semester) 40% 4 0.16 1, 11, 8, 12
3. Oral presentation: body evolution_Weeks 14, 15 and 17 (2nd semester) 40% 4 0.16 1, 11, 3, 12
4. Test_Week 15 (2nd semester) 10% 2 0.08 1, 7, 4, 6, 10

Bibliography

Consult catalan teaching guide