Tracheoesophageal voice restoration after laryngectomy is possible with a variety of neopharyngeal reconstructions. We have used the tubed radial forearm free flap for neopharyngeal reconstruction since 1991. Six patients have undergone voice restoration with the Blom-Singer prosthesis and were available for quantitative and qualitative speech analysis. These patients were compared to five laryngectomy patients with standard pharyngeal closures and similar voice restorations. The free flap patients produced similar loudness levels compared to the standards with soft speech (52.06 dB and 47.19 dB, respectively) and loud speech (62.66 dB and 60.91 dB, respectively). The free flap patients demonstrated adequate intelligibility, with fundamental frequencies comparable to standards (124.82 Hz and 135.66 Hz, respectively), although with increased jitter (5.00% versus 1.96%). No differences were statistically significant, but evaluation by trained and naive listeners demonstrated significant differences in voice quality. This quantitative and qualitative and qualitative analysis of tracheoesophageal speech after radial forearm free flap reconstruction of the neopharynx demonstrates that acceptable voice can be achieved, but with limitations.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the consonant intelligibility of 3 esophageal (E) and 3 tracheoesophageal (TE) talkers, and 1 dual-mode (DM) talker proficient in both E and TE speech modes. Audio recordings of 24 English consonants produced by each talker in a consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel-consonant (CVCVC) context were presented in the sound field to 15 normal-hearing, naïve, young adult listeners who phonetically transcribed their responses using an open-response paradigm. Listeners' pooled responses were converted to confusion matrices and analyzed for overall intelligibility, voicing and manner features, and consonant omissions. Ratings of speech proficiency were also obtained. Overall, the intelligibility of the TE talkers was significantly better than that of the E talkers. The DM talker was also more intelligible in the TE mode. Voiced consonants, plosives, fricatives, nasals, and liquid-glides were significantly more intelligible when produced by TE talkers. Affricates were also more intelligible for the DM talker in his TE mode. The different patterns of intelligibility observed between the E and TE talkers studied may be due to temporal speech distinctions evolving from the influence of dissimilar driving sources upon the vibratory characteristics of the pharyngoesophageal segment. Clinical implications are presented.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.