Thursday 16 April 2015

Dublic Dash

Over the space of four hours in Dublin, I had the pleasure of meeting several people related to health & voice research.

Dr Anne Drummond (University College Dublin) is an Occupational Safety and Health academic. In sharing the Irish experience of OS&H, Anne contemplated the place of safety and health within sports. She suggested that part of why we watch sport is the imbedded nature of risk. A sportsperson goes for a tackle, a dive, a shot and we want the physicality. We want the brute force of people pushing their bodies past what happens in our everyday lives. Pairing the physicality of sport with a culture of risk mitigation/aversion almost seems in conflict.

I had not considered the implications of this contrast for coaches before. It certainly fits with the culture of coaches ‘sucking-it-up’ if they are unwell. But is there almost an implied resiliency in coaches if they can ‘keep going’ and do not engage in help seeking/health support behaviours? Comments about lack of sleep at the Olympics spring to mind here (multiple coaches I have worked with almost brag about). Is being tough and being health aware conflicting?

I then met with fellow voice consultants (and Speech-Language Pathologists) Dr Patricia Gillivan-Murphy and Jenna O’Neill. Both are amazing women, with Jenna being a fellow researcher in voice for sports coaches (review of Jenna’s paper to come in a future blog post). Our conversations was varied, but what struck me most was how passionate we all are about voice. Not remarkable of itself, but it does highlight why it may be challenging for voice consultants to engage those who rely on their voices at work in preventative vocal health activities. We ‘love’ voice, but for many, it is a means to an end.

 
I’m left contemplating:
·       For coaches, is being tough and being health aware conflicting?

·       As voice consultants, how do we find a middle ground between being passionate about voice and motivating others (who may not prioritise voice) to engage in behavioural change around voice?

Hear and see more about VOTG

Want to know more about the voices of football coaches?


Listen to a podcast between Russell Hoyer and I (Centre for Sport and Social Impact). Here we discuss why coaches should consider their voices.



https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sport-unpacked/id862262156?mt=2


Or, to read more about football coaches' voices, you may like to read:
  • Occupational Vocal Health of Elite Sports Coaches: An Exploratory Pilot Study of Football Coaches
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jvoice.2014.09.017
Publication stage: In Press Corrected Proof

http://www.jvoice.org/article/S0892-1997%2814%2900203-3/abstract

  • VOICE AND VOCAL HEALTH IN ELITE SPORTS COACHING: CONSIDERATIONS FOR ELITE FOOTBALL COACHING STAFF
Br J Sports Med 2011;45:310–384. doi:10.1136/bjsm.2011.084038
http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/45/4/337.3.abstract?sid=742071a2-5881-4c4d-90a0-5ce3b7d78846


VOTG hits Galway - Student questions edition



Thursday April 26th – VOTG NUI presentation

Against one of the most beautiful backdrops I've seen, I was delighted to speak about VOTG to students at the NUI, Galway's Speech Pathology discipline .


 
 



Some interesting questions were posed by students, including:


·       Can we really track if coaches having healthier voices makes a difference to team performance/wins?

This is a tough one to answer. It certainly isn’t something I can directly claim from my own research (we didn’t consider players’ unfolding performance over the season). The coaches and I did discuss that players behaviour impacted on coaches’ voice use and vocal health. However, so many factors contribute to how a team performs within a game. It may be suggested that healthy voice facilitates effective voice performance, which impacts on effective vocal communication. In that regard, the health of the voice may influence how well a coach can deliver critical information to players. This vocal communication effectiveness may influence a team’s performance during competition. But can healthy voice lead directly to a win? Hard to say.

 

·       Will focusing on voice detract from coaches focusing on players?

Again, a really good questions. What we have found is that focus on health does not appear to be coaches’ primary focus point. Coaches are more likely to drop focus on their vocal health in order to focus on players’ performance needs. Indeed, a culture presenteeism seems imbedded in basketball coaching. Passion for coaching and enjoyment of facilitating athletes’ achievements often see coaches attend sport when they are unwell. Team loyalty also plays a part, with coaches not wanting to let athletes down by not being at training or games. This all suggests that focusing on voice is an adjunct to focusing on players (not a competing demand).

 

·       What have been the surprise findings when working with coaches on their voices?

I think one of the biggest surprises has come from the detailed level of insight basketball coaches have into their voice use. Coaches often detailed the nature of their reliance on voice across job tasks. This spanned training, games and other coaching contexts. During a match, this also included talking to official, players and each other. Coaches often discussed how changes in pitch, tone and volume were critical for coaching. However, considerations of the importance of voice were often confined to vocal communication success. Coaches did not tend to consider their vocal health alongside the performance of their voices.   

·       Do you consider that this area will become a focus in future?

In short, I hope so. Having coaches’ ‘buy-in’ to focusing on voice was why my research used collaboration with coaches. The future of vocal ergonomics with precarious workers may well rest on how well we (speech therapists, ergonomics and researchers) engage occupations in advocating for their vocal health needs. What is more certain is the importance of considering voice alongside other Occupational Safety and Health factors for workers like coaches.

 

Further information about NUI can be found at:

 


 

 


Art, Craft or Science: Where does 'Vocal Egronomics' fit?


Today is World Voice Day. It was also the final day of the Chartered Institute for Ergonomics and Human Factors conference (so effectively the last day of my UK study tour). It's been an interesting ride and one question seems to have dominated like no other - What does it mean to be a vocal ergonomist?

'Vocal ergonomics' is a relatively new area (for both voice research & ergonomics fields).  As I met Ergonomist from many backgrounds over the last few days, I've been oft asked "So what is vocal ergonomics?". My short answer has been to consider the breadth of the ergonomics remit and then apply it to voice. If we use the International Ergonomics Association definition, vocal ergonomics can apply to a lot!

"Ergonomics (or human factors) is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance".


This includes aspects of physical, cognitive and organizational experience:



http://www.iea.cc/whats/index.html

Yet during the week, we were challenged to consider just what ergonomics means. In a session on Tuesday, Prof Sarah Sharples (University of Nottingham @scsharples) challenged us to consider if ergonomics is an art, science or craft. She's reflected on it in her recent blog post : https://accidentalambassador.wordpress.com/

We seemed to come to the conclusion that it is all three. Often the imagining is art, the execution of process is craft and the evidence base underpinning it is science. But I wonder how that sits with vocal ergonomics. Is vocal ergonomics art, science and craft?

Researchers in the area (Sodersten & Lindhe, 2007; Vilkman, 2004; Sala, Sihvo & Laine, 2005) suggest vocal ergonomics research considers occupational voice use, work related vocal health, and workplace risk factors for voice disorders. This includes increasing knowledge above improved voice production and speech intelligibility across workplace environments.

So as an aspiring Vocal Ergonomist (or vocal ergonomics researcher), am I a scientist, artists or a craftsperson? Perhaps, like ergonomics itself, I'm all three. Much to ponder, but in the mean time, Happy Voice Day!

Monday 13 April 2015

Reflections on a day of conference studentdom... #ehf2015

What it means to be a PhD student can be a tricky question to answer at the best of times. Add being an ergonomics/human factors student to the mix, and it’s a 50/50 split of ‘hu?!’ and gazed eyes. So imagine my delight when a full day of a conference was dedicated to our rather rare breed! That was what I experienced today at the Doctoral Consortium at the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors conference in Daventry, United Kingdom (#ehf2015 for anyone following on twitter).

So what were the nuggets of wisdom that came from the day? They were varied. Each talk provided a novel perspective within our broad occupational ‘church’. We had health care workers, civil servants, engineers, psychologists and industrial designers. Yet all had a strong flair for integrated ergonomics/human factors. What did my colleagues talk about? Here’s a quick rundown:

·       Anthea Bennett (Institute of Naval Medicine) is considering safety culture within the military. Her work has thrown up many considerations, including the role that strong organisational commitment and loyalty can play in the health behaviours of workers.

·       Katie Buckley (me) (La Trobe University) discussed how a participatory ergonomics approach was utilised with elite sports coaches to consider vocal ergonomics factors.

·       Julie Waldron (Nottingham University) is contemplating patterns of behaviour in outdoor spaces. She used both covert observations and interviews to contemplate how architecture and outdoor spaces may assist people to be healthier and happier.

·       Adrian Marinescu (Nottingham University) contemplated how mental workload and stress maybe objectively measured through non-invasive measure. This included attempting thermal imaging of face movements, for use in aviation research.

·       Federica Massi (University of Milan) talked about WMSD considerations for dairy farmers in Italy. Through a multi-disciplinary, multi-method research approach (ultrasound, symptoms questionnaire, nerve conduction and Borg scale), she has considered if this protocol could be utilised within industry.  

·       Lucy Gilbert (Coventry University) considered the downside of automaticity, when errors can have major health consequences. Through consulting radiotherapists, she highlighted how changes in expected protocol may avoid the risk of attention over/underload.

·       Pedro Huertas-Leyva (University of Florence) highlighted how developing training strategies for motorbike riders may enhance safety.

·       Milena Kukova (Coventry University) while early in her PhD, shared how decision making about car design may be considered by industry.

·       Raphael Lamas (Nottingham University) had a rather novel approach to communication between drivers when traveling on the road. He used a range of data collection methods, including asking experts to brainstorm what they would like across driving situations.

·       Eline Kolk (Coventry University) shared her knowledge of the right way to dig. She discussed how the discover-define-develop-deliver approach to design may also be used when designing implements for older adults when they are gardening.

·       Natalie Cooper (University of Liverpool) share the effects of multisensory cues on how people feel during virtual reality simulation. Apparently even saxophone noise is preferable to silence in making us feel better during task completion.

·       Tugra Erol (Coventry University) provided insights into comfort and discomfort in seating. It seems that colour makes a difference in how firm we think a seat is, along with our emotional reaction to its luxury.

We rounded off the afternoon with some words of wisdom from the facilitators. A couple of take home messages stood out for me. One was the importance of publishing and presenting during a PhD.  Not only does publishing and presenting increase the visibility of your topic, but it also provides valuable peer feedback during the doctoral process. Another was that rejection of papers is actually a valuable (if painful) learning opportunity. We also discussed the importance of considering why a journal exists when you are pitching your work. Editors will look at your content (specifically the reference list) to see if the narrative you are sharing about your work fits with the preferences of the journal. It seems it pays to address this when writing. The final take-home confirmed just how diverse, and yet relevant, we can be within ergonomics/human factors. With such a wide variety of students and topics, it would be easy to feel ‘lost in the crowd’. Yet within the scope of the consortium, we all seemed to fit.

An exciting conference ahead, so time for this tired Aussie to sign out! Looking forward to the insights to come (and sharing the VOTG message in 'just a minute' poster presentation - see below).

 

Friday 27 March 2015

VOTG - Voice use and Vocal Health of Sports Coaches (Introducing the author)

Voice is critical across much of sports coaching. From yelling to athletes on a training arena, to talking in board meetings, coaches use their voices. Given coaches rely so heavily on effective vocal communication, healthy voice is essential. However, if voice is not performing at its best, a coach may not be either.

I'm Katie Buckley, an academic researcher, speech pathologist and consultant specialising in voice use and vocal health for sports coaches. I am based out of La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. My previous research with elite Australian Rules Football (AFL) and elite Rugby Union coaches found that coaches have heavy vocal demands across workplace environments. This puts coaches at risk of vocal health problems and impaired voice performance. The research also found that experiencing voice symptoms is a typical part of coaching, but voice use is often not addressed. In 2011, this research was presented at the International Olympic Committee’s Conference on Injury Prevention and Treatment in Sports (Monaco) and the Occupational Voice Symposium (London).

In February 2013, I was attaché to an Australia sports team at their World Qualification tournament in South Korea, as a voice researcher. I am currently completing her PhD with high performance sports coaches at domestic, national and international levels. Specifically, my current research considers the voice use and vocal health of high performance basketball coaches.

I have conducted voice and vocal health education sessions with coaches and referees within the Australian Sports Commission, Australian Institute of Sport, along with four national sporting organisations. I have also guest lectured on the topic within the coaching sciences program at the National Institute of Sports Studies, University of Canberra and the Discipline of Speech-Language Pathology, National University Ireland (Galway).

Learn more about the work by listening to the podcast CSSI conducted with me:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/sport-unpacked/id603835491?mt=10

I currently work as an academic at La Trobe University and am a member of the Centre for Sports and Social Impact. I also work in private practise as a Speech Pathologist (specialising in voice disorders), and consult in ‘occupational voice use’ and ‘vocal ergonomics’.

I am also passionate about the performing arts, exercise, watching sport and have recently discovered a love for snow!