3D Simulation of an Audible Ultrasonic Electrolarynx Using Difference Waves

Abstract

A total laryngectomy removes the vocal folds which are fundamental in forming voiced sounds that make speech possible. Although implanted prosthetics are commonly used in developed countries, simple handheld vibrating electrolarynxes are still common worldwide. These devices are easy to use but suffer from many drawbacks including dedication of a hand, mechanical sounding voice, and sound leakage. To address some of these drawbacks, we introduce a novel electrolarynx that uses vibro-acoustic interference of dual ultrasonic waves to generate an audible fundamental frequency. A 3D simulation of the principles of the device is presented in this paper.

Design of Electrolarynx to Increase Energy Efficiency by Varying the Driving Source

“…Based on the electrolarynx speech signals' feedback, the excitation signal is varied to accommodate differences in fundamental frequency. To decrease the electrolarynx's self-radiated noise, an interpolation of ultrasonic waves (Mills and Zara, 2014;Massey and Yilmaz, 2016) and time domain enhancement methods (Xiao et al, 2018) are used. The findings from Sardjono et al (2009) and Coetzee et al (2018) suggested that voices change due to advancing age after examining the melfrequency cepstral coefficients, implying the possible changes in voice excitation sources.…”