VICARIOUS VOCAL MECHANISMS: THE ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT OF SPEECH IN LARYNGECTOMIZED PERSONS

Abstract

With the improvement of surgical technic in total extirpation of the larynx has gone an increasing interest in methods of restoring voice to larynxless persons. Operative methods have made by far the greater progress. Perhaps the surgical laryngologist has considered it more important to eliminate satisfactorily a diseased organ than to restore the function which the organ discharged. Whatever the reason for the minor interest in functional recovery, the patient whose larynx was removed, deprived of speech, found himself restored to health which was well nigh identical with social helplessness. The chief step toward the mitigation of this serious handicap was the invention of the artificial larynx. For many years laryngectomized persons have been carrying about these cumbersome and difficult machines. Only comparatively recently has attention been turned to the development in the patient of a vicarious voice by the use of organs other than the larynx. This has been