Electromyographic control of prosthetic voice after total laryngectomy

The electrolarynx (EL) is a common rehabilitative speech aid for individuals who have undergone laryngectomy, but typical devices lack pitch control and require the exclusive use of one hand. This study investigated the viability of surface electromyography (sEMG) to control the onset and offset of an EMG-controlled EL (EMG-EL) while attending to real-time sEMG biofeedback using sEMG collected from seven locations across the ventral neck and face surface in eight individuals at least 1 year past total laryngectomy.Speech performance was assessed as the percentage of fully voiced words and successfully produced pauses. During use of the EMG-EL with biofeedback participants increased the sEMG during words and decreased the sEMG during pauses. Electrodes on the superior ventral neck, submental surface, and below the comer of the mouth showed consistently high performance across all participants. These results indicate promise for the applicability of the EMG-EL across a large segment of the laryngectomy population.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Stepp, Cara Elizabeth

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Joseph S. Perkell and James T. Heaton.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/45857

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/45857