Motor integrated electro larynx; a novel, less expensive electro larynx

Introduction

Total laryngectomy results in a muted person. Electro larynx is one method of sound production for speech in such patients. We introduce a novel, less expensive electro larynx.

Objectives

To assess the usability of the novel electro larynx.

Methods

A new electro larynx was developed. Imbalanced motor was used as the vibrator and hence it could be operated with a 3V battery. It is made as a rechargeable device using a mobile phone charger. Fifty Sinhala and English words and 20 numbers were read by a researcher. It was listened and recorded by 5 listeners and documented. Correctly identified words and numbers were analyzed. Test was done both with and without lip reading.

Results

The new device could generate sound for speech. Eighty-eight percent of English and 89.2% of Sinhala words could be identified with lip reading. For numbers it was 97.6%.

Conclusions