Objective: Music teachers use their voices in various ways for teaching music and are at high risk of developing vocal health issues. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between vocal fatigue and quality of life among K-12 in-service music teachers. A secondary purpose was to investigate vocal health preparation that participants received from their previous music teacher preparation programs.

Methods: Participants consisted of 211 K-12 in-service music teachers who completed an online questionnaire. Membership in the National Association for Music Education served as the sampling frame for this research, providing a nationally representative sample. The questionnaire consisted of five sections: (1) demographic information, (2) Vocal Fatigue Index, (3) Voice Handicap Index-10, (4) Voice-Related Quality of Life scale, and (5) Vocal Health Preparation scale. Cronbach’s Alpha indicated good to excellent reliability of the items for all measures: VFI: factor 1 α = 0.93, factor 2 α = 0.89, and factor 3 α = 0.82. VHI-10 α = 0.90, V-RQOL α = 0.88, and Vocal Health Preparation α = 0.91.

Results: Participants indicated elevated vocal fatigue. VFI factor 2 was rated the closest to the fatigue threshold suggested by Nanjundeswaran et al. Factorial ANOVA revealed a significant and medium interaction effect among teaching specialty, teaching level, and years of teaching experience for factor 3 (P < .05). The interaction between teaching specialty and teaching level varied depending on participants’ years of teaching experience. Furthermore, factors 1 and 2 were positively correlated with the VHI-10 and negatively correlated with the V-RQOL (P < .001). Regression analyses indicated significant effects of factor 1 on VHI-10 and V-RQOL (P < .001). Additionally, participants reported receiving the least vocal health education on speaking voice and proper protocols for treating vocal pathologies.

Conclusion: Given that no researchers have investigated K-12 in-service music teachers’ vocal fatigue and quality of life, this research contributed uniquely to extant literature and expanded our understanding of this population. These findings offer valuable insights and inform strategies to extend music teachers’ career longevity, improve their quality of life, and enable them to provide a fulfilling music-learning experience for their students.