Perceptions of voice disorders: A survey of Arab adults

Abstract

A disordered voice may lead to social stigma as well as reduced occupational opportunities. Much of the research on this topic has investigated the effects of voice disorders from a Western perspective. The societal attitudes of international populations toward people with voice disorders (PWVD) are less well known. The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of adults living in Kuwait toward PWVD. Participants completed a questionnaire that addressed social, educational, and occupational aspects of life for PWVD. The results indicated that while Kuwaiti adults hold generally positive attitudes toward PWVD, they may also perceive PWVD as more likely to be emotionally disturbed, have difficulty making friends or getting married, and experience trouble in finding a good job.

Key words::

• Arab
• attitudes
• Kuwait
• stereotype
• voice disorders

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the undergraduate students from Kuwait University who participated in this study and to their professors for their support. Likewise we thank the adults from the general public for their time and dedication. A special appreciation goes to the female volunteer with voice disorder and to Fatima Dikrallah for collecting the speech sample and editing the audio clip. We wish to acknowledge Roqaya Al-Kandari's extraordinary effort in adapting the scale into Arabic and data rendering. Last but not least, we are indebted to former students from the Department of Communication Science at Kuwait University (Sara Almoulli, Somayya Raafat, Husa Alqaoud, and Najla Alfagaan) for assistance with data gathering.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest.