A new voice for larynx cancer patients

A EUREKA project has developed a new voice-producing shunt prosthesis that should help post-operative larynx cancer sufferers speak more naturally and improve their quality of life after
surgery, when recovering from a laryngectomy, advanced larynx cancer patients often have difficulty in regaining the natural quality of speech they once had.

In the past, many devices and techniques have been developed, including a one-way shunt valve that creates a new airway connection between the lungs and the vocal cavities. Unfortunately with
this system, voice quality still remains poor and the process creates a mental barrier, forcing patients to literally point to their handicap.

Starting in 2002 with a budget of ?3 million, the pan-European research team has developed a new voice-producing shunt prosthesis product that creates a voice with sufficient loudness,
adjustable fundamental frequency and natural intonation.

‘The research was carried out so that the speaking capacity of our patients could be improved,’ says project leader Professor Bart Verkerke, from the Medical Centre of the University of
Groningen in the Netherlands. ‘We also investigated how we were going to improve the lifetime and fixation of the devices.’

The researchers now claim success in three key areas of research including material coatings, a new voice-producing element and new fixation systems.

‘The first success was reproducing the voice after surgery, and then producing new materials for the devices and improving fixation system, one of the most important components,’ says the
professor. ‘It will take us a few years for the prototype to become a product that can be used by the medical world but the project was important in developing expertise in these areas,’ adds
Professor Verkerke.

The partners now expect to take their voice-producing prosthesis and material to make it to the market within the next few years as they have identified a global market for these types of
products.

The professor also believes that EUREKA support was vital and Europe is now set to gain economically.

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