Voice and speech after laryngectomy

Abstract

The aim of the investigation is to compare voice and speech quality in alaryngeal patients using esophageal speech (ESOP, eight subjects), electroacoustical speech aid (EACA, six subjects) and tracheoesophageal voice prosthesis (TEVP, three subjects). The subjects reading a short story were recorded in the sound-proof booth and the speech samples were acoustically analysed. Speech sound production was judged by 15 students of phonetics. The following variables were considered: (1) voice quality: fo, jitter, shimmer and harmonic-to-noise ratio, (2) speech sound production: number of recognized VCV syllables, and (3) temporal organization of speech: duration of the phonetic block, number of syllables in the phonetic block, rate of speech, rate of articulation and number of syllables in the longest phonetic block. The results showed that nearly normal air-stream source (lungs) in speech production of speakers with tracheoesophageal prosthesis significantly contributed to the speech timing and speech intelligibility of the alaryngeal speakers.