TEACHING THE LARYNGECTOMIZED PATIENT TO TALK: (WITHOUT THE AID OF THE MECHANICAL LARYNX)

The problem of teaching laryngectomized patients to talk has existed since Billroth performed the first laryngectomy, in 1873. Yearly, a large number of radical extirpations of the larynx are being done, and the necessity for rehabilitation of the speech of laryngectomized patients is receiving increasing amounts of deserved attention. 1 The physician's responsibility should extend beyond the operation and should provide for systematic training for recovery of natural speech. The quality of speech depends on early training after the operation. An occasional patient stumbles into an excellent method without formal instruction. However, the principles of learning need not depend on chance; they can be directed into proper channels. The major portion of this paper will be concerned with the systematic method of training these patients to talk. Defective speech habits and peculiar mannerisms are formed by (1) most patients who do not have the advantage of formal training in speech after