A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY OF SPEECH AND VOICE REHABILITATION AFTER TOTAL LARYNGECTOMY WITH THE LOW-RESISTANCE GRONINGEN, NIJDAM AND PROVOX VOICE PROSTHESES

In a prospective study the Groningen, Nijdam, and Provox voice prosthe ses were evaluated with respect to speech and voice rehabilitation. At approximate to 1, 4, and 10 months after operation, patients were sub mitted to a standardized speaking task to evaluate phonatory skills (p hrase length, phonation duration, dynamics on tone, dynamics on senten ce, speech rate and availability of sound), speech quality (fluency an d overall intelligibility), voice quality and stoma technique (stoma n oise). Tracheoesophageal speech rehabilitation proved to be successful in 94-100% of patients, as measured at approximate to 10 months after operation. Furthermore, no significant overall differences were found between the three prostheses. There was a significant improvement in time for speech rate and stoma noise. As for the time effects (e.g. im provement in performance over time) no differences between the three p rostheses were found.