ESOPHAGEAL SPEECH FOR ANY LARYNGECTOMIZED PATIENT

Abstract

A summary of the medical experience in teaching esophageal speech, with a detailed survey of the literature, was published by Dr. W. W. Morrison¹in 1931. He and his associates have continued the work. In the phonetic laboratories an occasional case of esophageal voice has been studied.²In the Oberlin Psychological Laboratory my associates and I have developed methods and apparatus for recording and analyzing the movements of normal speech, including the changes of air pressure in the mouth and the concomitant pulses of the abdominal and thoracic muscles.³We have applied these methods of recording and analysis to the movements of esophageal speech. When the details of the process are understood, it is possible to develop a positive and certain process of training. Can all patients be taught to speak? The answer is: If the patient can swallow satisfactorily, he can learn esophageal speech. The type of voice and