CHARACTERISTICS OF VOICING SOURCE WAVE-FORMS PRODUCED BY ESOPHAGEAL AND TRACHEOESOPHAGEAL SPEAKERS

Voicing source waveforms produced by 10 laryngectomized esophageal spe akers, 12 laryngectomized tracheoesophageal speakers, and 10 age-match ed, normal male speakers were obtained by inversely filtering flow fun ctions recorded with a circumferentially vented mask. The data from th ese speakers was used to evaluate differences in source signal propert ies on a group basis. In a second analysis, source signals produced by a single laryngectomized individual, capable of producing esophageal and tracheoesophageal speech in a highly proficient manner, were analy zed and compared. The overall results of this project provide an initi al and novel description of voicing source signals produced by esophag eal and tracheoesophageal speakers. The characteristics of these signa ls appear to be highly variable, particularly in comparison with the h omogeneous pattern of source waves produced by age-matched, normal spe akers. This initial description of voicing source signals produced by alaryngeal speakers is generally supportive of the hypothesis of diffe rences in source properties among normal, esophageal, and tracheoesoph ageal voices.