Chennai: B Vijaya Rani, a govt school teacher, was in for a shock last year when she met a doctor after prolonged throat pain. The doctor informed that her vocal cords were severely stressed, a phenomenon alluded to as ‘teachers throat’. And he gave her two options: change the job, or go on a one-month-long recovery leave. The 41-year-old found a feasible alternative online: a microphone-enabled speaker headsets.“As I have a feeble voice, I strained to make myself heard. Doing this for at least five periods, five days a week for three years affected my voice. My seniors warned me it could permanently affect my vocal cords. The headset helped me recover and all my students hear me without difficulty,” she said.In the last few years, several teachers across govt, corporation and private schools have started to use headset-mics ’. Priced between ₹500 to ₹3,000, these battery-operated devices come with a receiver, transmitter and speaker with adjustable volume levels. Teachers nearing retirement and those ailing from acidity, where acid refluxes affect their voice, use the device.“The device is handy to maintain the same volume for an entire day, which gets difficult with age for teachers.,” said P Rajesh, physics teacher at Govt Girls Higher Secondary School, Nandivaram, who has been using the tech for 2 years.The school head has stocked up on four such headsets for use by teachers.The trend is more prevalent among maths and science teachers over the age of 40, as they spend more time communicating to get their point across, said J Sundar, principal, Bala Vidya Mandir, Adyar. “Several teachers end up having a hoarse voice at the end of their careers. Students benefit as they can hear the teachers loud and clear,” he said.Doctors, too, endorsed the use of such mics. “If not, teachers will have to ensure that they take a break every 20 minutes during class and regularly drink water in between to reduce the strain on their throat. Additionally, they should also ensure that they do not speak much while on breaks, during weekends,” said Dr R Ramakrishnan, ENT specialist, MGM Malar Hospital.Educationists say the govt can also consider providing teachers with such devices so that they don’t spend out of their pockets. “Elderly teachers can be identified and can be given such devices. It wouldn’t cost much,” said S Arumainathan, president, TN Students’ Parents Welfare Association.
