Neck and Face Surface Electromyography for Prosthetic Voice Control After Total Laryngectomy

The electrolarynx (EL) is a common rehabilitative speech aid for individuals who have undergone total laryngectomy, but they typically lack pitch control and require the exclusive use of one hand. The viability of using neck and face surface electromyography (sEMG) to control the onset, offset, and pitch of an EMG-controlled EL (EMG-EL) was studied. Eight individuals who had undergone total laryngectomy produced serial and running speech using a typical handheld EL and the EMG-EL while attending to real-time visual sEMG biofeedback. Running speech tokens produced with the EMG-EL were examined for naturalness by 10 listeners relative to those produced with a typical EL using a visual analog scale. Serial speech performance was assessed as the percentage of words that were fully voiced and pauses that were successfully produced. Results of the visual analog scale assessment indicated that individuals were able to use the EMG-EL without training to produce running speech perceived as natural as that produced with a typical handheld EL. All participants were able to produce running and serial speech with the EMG-EL controlled by sEMG from multiple recording locations, with the superior ventral neck or submental surface locations providing at least one of the two best control locations.

[1]  R Merletti,et al.  Location of innervation zones of sternocleidomastoid and scalene muscles – a basis for clinical and research electromyography applications , 2002, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[2]  W. Hong,et al.  Functional outcomes following treatment for advanced laryngeal cancer. Part I--Voice preservation in advanced laryngeal cancer. Part II--Laryngectomy rehabilitation: the state of the art in the VA System. Research Speech-Language Pathologists. Department of Veterans Affairs Laryngeal Cancer Study Gr , 1998, The Annals of otology, rhinology & laryngology. Supplement.

[3]  J Robbins,et al.  Acoustic differentiation of laryngeal, esophageal, and tracheoesophageal speech. , 1984, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[4]  E Lauder,et al.  Current status of laryngectomee rehabilitation: I. Results of therapy. , 1982, American journal of otolaryngology.

[5]  H. Morris,et al.  Communication Status following Laryngectomy: The Iowa Experience 1984–1987 , 1992, The Annals of otology, rhinology, and laryngology.

[6]  S. Stringer,et al.  Voice rehabilitation after total laryngectomy and postoperative radiation therapy. , 2002, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[7]  Cara E Stepp,et al.  Training effects on speech production using a hands-free electromyographically controlled electrolarynx. , 2007, Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR.

[8]  H. R. Konrad,et al.  Laryngectomy: postsurgical rehabilitation of communication. , 1976, Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation.

[9]  H. Hermens,et al.  European recommendations for surface electromyography: Results of the SENIAM Project , 1999 .

[10]  Garrett B. Stanley,et al.  Design and implementation of a hands-free electrolarynx device controlled by neck strap muscle electromyographic activity , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[11]  D R Beukelman,et al.  Communication efficiency of dysarthric speakers as measured by sentence intelligibility and speaking rate. , 1981, The Journal of speech and hearing disorders.

[12]  S E Williams,et al.  Speaking proficiency variations according to method of alaryngeal voicing , 1987, The Laryngoscope.

[13]  L WALTON,et al.  Total laryngectomy. , 1947, Nursing times.

[14]  Hans Torp,et al.  Neck and shoulder muscle activity and thorax movement in singing and speaking tasks with variation in vocal loudness and pitch. , 2005, Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice Foundation.

[15]  Cara E Stepp,et al.  Electromyographic control of a hands-free electrolarynx using neck strap muscles. , 2009, Journal of communication disorders.

[16]  Shimon Sapir,et al.  Surface electrode recording of platysma single motor units during speech , 1980 .

[17]  Paul Boersma,et al.  Praat: doing phonetics by computer , 2003 .

[18]  A. Pou,et al.  Tracheoesophageal voice restoration with total laryngectomy. , 2004, Otolaryngologic clinics of North America.

[19]  C. Finizia,et al.  Health‐Related Quality of Life in Patients With Laryngeal Cancer: A Post‐Treatment Comparison of Different Modes of Communication , 2001, The Laryngoscope.

[20]  Geoffrey S. Meltzner,et al.  Impact of aberrant acoustic properties on the perception of sound quality in electrolarynx speech. , 2005, Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR.

[21]  Ehab A. Goldstein,et al.  Surface Electromyographic Activity in Total Laryngectomy Patients following Laryngeal Nerve Transfer to Neck Strap Muscles , 2004, The Annals of otology, rhinology, and laryngology.

[22]  Paul Boersma,et al.  Praat, a system for doing phonetics by computer , 2002 .