If you have had some trouble understanding some of your teachers lately, there might be a reason why.

According to a random sampling of NIU faculty members, classroom teaching can cause vocal discomfort for the instructor. Data found 53 percent of the women and 43 percent of the men reported having some degree of vocal discomfort after teaching.

The research was conducted last semester by NIU graduate student Kelly Johnston and William Shearer, NIU professor of communicative disorders.

“Factors most frequently associated with vocal symptoms were background noise, poor acoustics in the classroom, large lecture rooms and greater number of lecture hours per week,” Shearer said.

Johnston and Shearer sent questionnaires to 100 faculty members and received 66 responses.

Faculty members were asked to fill out a checklist of recurring vocal problems. The list included sore throat, voice fatigue, voice forcing, temporary loss of voice, and pitch breaks.

Factors that did not seem to affect teacher’s vocal discomfort include the number of years taught, the size of the class, and whether or not the teacher smokes.

“According to our research, it shows that teaching is among one of the top 10 professions that cause vocal problems,” Shearer said.

Johnston and Shearer suggested several ways for teachers to handle vocal problems. Teachers should not schedule courses back-to-back and should drink water or warm beverages before class and during their breaks.

Shearer also suggested teachers make students sit closer to the front and use a microphone in large lecture halls.

“The research that we conducted proved that our assumptions were true,” Shearer said. “We feel that our research was very successful.”