INTRODUCTION
The first paper about occupational voice indexed in PubMed, a free database from the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), was published in 1964 by Sedlacek. Over the past six decades, research on occupational voice has explored assessment methods, prevalence, impacts on quality of life and associated costs, and the lack of effective translation into workers' wellbeing.
METHODS
Using the OpenAlex database, a bibliometric analysis of the literature about “occupational voice” was performed. All retrieved records were exported in .ris format into Rayyan to identify and remove duplicate entries. Titles and abstracts were then screened to ensure they fulfilled the inclusion criteria. After screening, the cleaned dataset was analyzed using VOSviewer (version 1.6.20) to identify research trends and thematic clusters in occupational voice research over the last 60 years.
RESULTS
After removing duplicates and screening titles and abstracts, 348 manuscripts were included in the bibliometric analysis. Using VOSviewer, three distinct key terms co-occurrence clusters were identified. The first cluster included the term “teacher” as the most frequent term with 134 occurrences, 167 links, and a total link strength of 1,585. In the second cluster, the most common key term was “voice disorders”, with 106 occurrences, 166 links, and a total link strength of 1,368. The third cluster contained the key term “voice” as the central term with 101 occurrences, 166 links, and a total link strength of 1,426.
Temporal analysis showed that early publications focused on “occupational voice disorders”, “voice”, and “teacher”. More recent studies increasingly addressed concepts like “associated factors”, “quality”, and “voice hygiene”, indicating a shift toward preventive strategies and holistic approaches.
CONCLUSIONS
Despite the advances in research in occupational voice, gaps remain. Research continues to be focused on a few occupational sectors, with limited attention to emerging voice-intensive professions and underrepresented populations. Furthermore, the rise of remote work and digital communication introduces new vocal demands that remain poorly understood.