Multi Parametric Method for the Objective Acoustic Evaluation of the Voice Produced by Laryngectomy Patients

Abstract

A reliable perceptive analysis implying several sessions of listening turns out to be consuming in time and in human resources, and therefore not allowing a regular use in clinical practice. At the level of the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) services the rehabilitative speech therapist is in charge of estimating by listening to the quality of the voice, which entraines a non reliable perceptive evaluation compared with the one that will be proposed in this work. In this study, objective instrumental approaches based on physical measures has been proposed. These approaches allowing the analysis and estimation of the acoustic characteristics of the voice of the patients having a total laryngectomy. The results are compared with those obtained in a healthy vocal speaker. The outcomes indicate that objective evaluations can provide a homogeneous database for a better interpretation of articulators and vocal dysfunctions.