[Phonation assessment of voice restoration after laryngectomy].

OBJECTIVE

To take an objective phonation assessment for the patients who have taken the tracheo-esophageal (TE) shunt procedure after total laryngectomy.

METHOD: Twenty-four patients after TE shunt procedure were selected as TE group. Esophageal speakers after total laryngectomy and normal subjects were considered as controls. All the subjects of three groups took part in the voice acoustic assessment and MPT measurement. Twenty TE speakers took part in intra-tracheal pressure measurement. TE speakers and esophageal speakers participated in the electronic laryngoscope examination.

RESULT: There were no significant differences between TE group and esophageal group in every acoustic parameters, but there were very remarkable differences between TE group and normal subjects in jitter, shimmer, harmonics to noise ratio and normalized noise energy. The pressure of TE speakers for comfortable /a/ is (2.86 +/- 0.69) kPa. The pharyno-esophageal segment vibrated regularly in most alaryngeal speakers and shapes of neo-glottis of most alaryngeal speakers were circular.

CONCLUSION

Acoustic parameters of TE speakers were similar to those of esophageal speakers, but the tone of TE speakers was more similar to the normal controls. Speaking of the patients after the TE shunt procedure is laborsaving.