Design of a new electrolarynx having a pitch control function

In order to improve a naturalness of an electrolarynx, we have designed a new method that can allow laryngectomees to control voice intonation by using their expiration. First, we investigated the ability of pitch control of 16 laryngectomees. From the results, two of the laryngectomees could control the pitch frequency accurately and the ability of pitch control improved after one week´s training. Next, we have designed a new electrolarynx having a function of pitch control by expiration pressure. From the view point of naturalness of a spoken sentence and the easiness to control the electrolarynx, the optimal transform function was estimated. The pitch pattern of a sentence obtained by the electrolarynx became clearly similar to that produced from a normal subject after short time training