[Analysis of qualitative voice and speech quality judgments after total laryngectomy]

The present work analyzes subjective judgement of the voice and speech qualities of intelligibility, pleasantness and acceptability expressed for two groups of total laryngectomy patients. The first group was composed of ten patients who had undergone esophageal voice rehabilitation. The second had nine patients with tracheo-esophageal voice rehabilitation. A group of ten listeners was set up to evaluate the voice and language parameters. These were all persons who, because of their jobs (i.e. physicians, nurses, rehabilitation therapists, etc.), had nearly daily contacts with laryngectomized patients. The listeners had to evaluate the acoustic and qualitative features of the voices reproduced on magnetic tape and score them on a specially designed sheet. This study has revealed a significant difference in the voice and speech acceptability scores for the two different groups of patients. In fact, most of the listeners found the tracheo-esophageal voice more pleasant and more acceptable than the esophageal voice.