Occupational Voice Technology Stage 1 - Systematic Literature Review

The voice is the most common and efficient communication tool among human beings. For a sector of the population it becomes their main tool for the exercise of their profession, it is the case of singers, actors and professional speakers. Another even more numerous sector of the population makes occupational use of voice, that is, they use it as a tool that supports their daily work; this is the case of teachers, telephone operators, salesmen, religious pastors, etc. Those who use the voice in a professional manner generally know how to take care of it, however, users of the occupational voice have a high risk of suffering alterations in their voice since they tend to seek professional help when they are already experiencing problems. This negatively affects their quality of life, alters their work performance and generates high costs to the health system. Here, it is very useful to know which technological developments can help these users to take care of their voice or even which can favor the rehabilitation processes if necessary. The knowledge of technological developments at the level of research or final products, their degree of technological maturity and even their clinical evidence are data that, apparently, are unknown. This project seeks to fill this gap and proposes to know what type of technologies exist (hardware and/or software) to treat the occupational voice from prevention to rehabilitation. To achieve this, it proposes a systematic review of the literature. This review is the first stage of a macro project that seeks to develop technology for the care and/or treatment of the occupational voice.

State of the art in the context of technologies for occupational voice care