BACKGROUND: in the last two decades teacher's voice has been the target of many researches due to the high incidence of voice disturbances in this professional class; therefore, the need for these professionals to take part in actions that ensure the vocal health has been reinforced. Few papers in the literature describe vocal health programs and their results. PROCEDURES: describe a Vocal Health Program of Educators from public schools (kinder garden and elementary schools) from the countryside of São Paulo inland, developed from 2002 to 2005, that was made up by basic voice group to offer essential theoretical and practical knowledge about vocal care, including the participants' vocal screening; advanced voice group to reorganize the phonation process and the voice use in classroom. RESULTS: the average of 56% of total enrolment participated in the actions; 62.9% of voice disturbance is the result of vocal screening, most of it with discreet vocal deviation; 100% of participants referred 3 or more voice symptoms at the beginning of advanced voice group, and after the group had finished, 45% still had 4 to 13 symptoms; data about vocal self-perception show low scores in vocal impact in professional activities. CONCLUSION: the description showed the need for constant regulation of the program in order to reach its goals. The low participation in actions might be related to the discreet impact of voice in professional activities, although this fact requires further investigation. The highest measured benefit of the participation in the advanced vocal groups was the reduction in the volume e of vocal symptoms.
Occupational Health; Voice; Education
