Anders Birgander
The teachers’ voices in classrooms and in playgrounds sometimes have to be risen in order to reach all the pupils. Police often has to be heard over a lot of noise. Teachers make interrogations – and so does police. Calming down people after a fight in a home takes the same route as a conversation between teacher and pupil.
At the University of Umeå in Sweden all teacher students after 6 hours lectures about the voice have to make a laboration of their voices, talking first in a silent surrounding and then exposed to a noise of approximately 70dB; this latter part is meant to examine if they raise their F0 too much (up to 10% can be considered normal). Herefter they are entitled to free professional voice therapy.
This procedure has reached the ears of the Police Academy of Umeå University. Now all police students have a two hours lecture where the need of a good voice is accentuated. Students experiencing voice problems have the possibility to see the speech pathologist for free.
There is much literature on the teacher’s voice, but you search in vain for anything about the problems police might meet in their occupation. After two police students started writing a report upon police voice we found out nothing has been written on the subject. This fact, and the students feeling they need help, has opened up for voice and speech specialists to take greater part in the police studies.
Anders Birgander
UMEÅ UNIVERSITET
Institutionen för svenska och samhällsvetenskapliga ämnen
SE – 901 87 UMEÅ
(+46) 090 – 786 64 73
anders.birgander@educ.umu.se