Abstract
Tone is important in tonal languages, especially in Mandarin. However, there is presently no commercially available electrolarynx (EL) for laryngectomized Mandarin speakers. Moreover, few studies have focused on this area. Our purpose is to design an EL that produces the four Mandarin tones and to evaluate its performance. We designed a wheel-controlled pitch-adjustable EL and manufactured a prototype (Wheel-EL). Using monosyllables, disyllabic segments, and frequently used phrases, we evaluated speech produced by Wheel-EL and by monotone (M-TruTone) and variable-frequency modes (V-TruTone) of the commercially available TruTone EL. The pitch contours of the high-level (HL), middle-rising (MR), and falling-rising (FR) tones produced by Wheel-EL most closely matched the natural speech characteristics of a native speaker. However, redundant sounds were generated in the high-falling (HF) tone. The statistical accuracy of Wheel-EL’s tone and word perception was significantly higher than that of other EL types. However, no significant differences existed in acceptability among the three EL speech types. Wheel-EL produces better HL, MR, and FR tones in Mandarin than either M-TruTone or V-TruTone. Nevertheless, redundant sounds affect HF phonation. Accurate tone judgment can improve the intelligibility of EL speech in Mandarin but has no obvious effect on acceptability.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Belforte G, Carello M, Miani C, Staffieri A (1998) Staffieri tracheo-oesophageal prosthesis for voice rehabilitation after laryngectomy: an evaluation of characteristics. Med Biol Eng Comput 36:754–760
Ben JA, Gioux M, Henry C, Devars F, Traissac L (1989) New prosthesis with low airflow resistance for voice restoration following total laryngectomy. Med Biol Eng Comput 27:204–206
Choi HS, Park YJ, Lee SM, Kim KM (2001) Functional characteristics of a new electrolarynx “Evada” having a force sensing resistor sensor. J Voice 15:592–599. doi:10.1016/S0892-1997(01)00062-5
Dunn HK (1961) A new, transistorized artificial larynx. N Y State J Med 61:3463–3466
Eady SJ (1981) Differences in the F0 patterns of speech: tone language versus stress language. J Acoust Soc Am 70:S39. doi:10.1121/1.2018856
Goldstein EA, Heaton JT, Stepp CE, Hillman RE (2007) Training effects on speech production using a hands-free electromyographically controlled electrolarynx. J Speech Lang Hear Res 50:335–351. doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2007/024)
Heaton JT, Goldstein EA, Kobler JB, Zeitels SM, Randolph GW, Walsh MJ, Gooey JE, Hillman RE (2004) Surface electromyographic activity in total laryngectomy patients following laryngeal nerve transfer to neck strap muscles. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol 113:754–764
Hillman RE, Walsh MJ, Wolf GT, Fisher SG, Hong WK (1998) Functional outcomes following treatment for advanced laryngeal cancer. Part I-Voice preservation in advanced laryngeal cancer. Part II–laryngectomy rehabilitation: the state of the art in the VA system. Research speech-language pathologists. Department of Veterans Affairs Laryngeal Cancer Study Group. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol Suppl 172:1–27
Kikuchi Y, Kasuya H (2004) Development and evaluation of pitch adjustable electrolarynx. In: Paper presented at the Speech Prosody 2004 (SP2004), Nara, Japan
Li PC, Chiang YY, Tsai KS, Young ST (2005) Genetic algorithm for the efficient selection of disyllabic word lists used in Mandarin speech discrimination tests. Med Biol Eng Comput 43:648–657
Liu H, Wan M, Ng ML, Wang S, Lu C (2006) Tonal perceptions in normal laryngeal, esophageal, and electrolaryngeal speech of Mandarin. Folia Phoniatr Logop 58:340–352. doi:10.1159/000094568
Mendenhall WM, Morris CG, Stringer SP, Amdur RJ, Hinerman RW, Villaret DB, Robbins KT (2002) Voice rehabilitation after total laryngectomy and postoperative radiation therapy. J Clin Oncol 20:2500–2505
Niu HJ, Wan MX, Wang SP, Liu HJ (2003) Enhancement of electrolarynx speech using adaptive noise cancelling based on independent component analysis. Med Biol Eng Comput 41:670–678
Tang CG, Sinclair CF (2015) Voice Restoration After Total Laryngectomy. Otolaryngol Clin N Am 48:687–702. doi:10.1016/j.otc.2015.04.013
Uemi N, Ifukube T, Takahashi M, Matsushima J (1994) Design of a new electrolarynx having a pitch control function. In: Paper presented at the 3rd IEEE international workshop on robot and human communication (RO-MAN ‘94), Nagoya, Japan
Wan C, Wang E, Wu L, Wang S, Wan M (2012) Design and evaluation of an electrolarynx with tonal control function for Mandarin. Folia Phoniatr Logop 64:290–296. doi:10.1159/000346861
Watson PJ, Schlauch RS (2008) The effect of fundamental frequency on the intelligibility of speech with flattened intonation contours. Am J Speech Lang Pathol 17:348–355. doi:10.1044/1058-0360(2008/07-0048)
Watson PJ, Schlauch RS (2009) Fundamental frequency variation with an electrolarynx improves speech understanding: a case study. Am J Speech Lang Pathol 18:162–167. doi:10.1044/1058-0360(2008/08-0025)
Yiu EM, van Hasselt CA, Williams SR, Woo JK (1994) Speech intelligibility in tone language (Chinese) laryngectomy speakers. Eur J Disord Commun 29:339–347
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Key Technology R&D Program of China (No. 2015BAI06B02) and the State key laboratory of software development environment of China (No. SKLSDE-2014ZX-12).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Appendix: Reading materials
Appendix: Reading materials
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, L., Feng, Y., Yang, Z. et al. Development and evaluation of wheel-controlled pitch-adjustable electrolarynx. Med Biol Eng Comput 55, 1463–1472 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-016-1606-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-016-1606-6