Risk factors for dysphonia amongst lawyers: Case of nicosia

The aim of this thesis is to evaluate dysphonia amongst lawyers and to determine the occupational risk factors. Korn's et. al. (2016) survey "Vocal Tract Discomfort and Risk Factors in University Teachers" was adapted and "Evaluating Dysphonia Amongst Lawyers and Determining the Risk Factors" survey was developed for this thesis. The developed survey has five sections and consists of informed consent form, personal information, work life and environment, clinical symptoms, habits and quality of life. It includes 46 questions, which 45 of them are multiple choice and one is open ended. The survey was completed by 73 lawyers, that are practicing their profession at present. Symptoms of vocal tract discomfort were compared by age; gender; work environment; habits and quality of life and correlation between them was investigated. The "Work Life" section was related to organizational factors. In this section questions were about the durations of face to face and telephone conversations with clients; duration of the possible brakes that lawyers can rest their voice. The "Work Environment" section was related to ergonomic and environmental factors. In this section questions were about noise; air quality and work related stress. The "Habits and Quality of Life" section was related to personal factors. In this section questions were about habits of water, food, alcohol, tobacco products; addictive substance consumption and habits of talkativeness, sports, medical drug consumption, stressful personality characteristics and weight that effects general state of health, therefor the quality of life. The results showed that there are no correlations between vocal tract discomfort and age, gender, work environment, habits and quality of life. Key words: lawyers, dysphonia, professional voice users