3 electronic laryngectomies commonly used by patients with total laryngectomy

Many patients with severe laryngeal cancer need to undergo total laryngectomy. In order to save patients from the painful life of silence, various electronic laryngeals have emerged, which greatly improve the quality of life of laryngeal cancer patients. Electronic laryngeals are mainly divided into cervical type, intraoral type and implantable type, among which cervical type electronic laryngeals are more commonly used.

Neck type electronic throat

The neck-type electronic larynx is an artificial larynx made of semiconductor devices. It looks like a small flashlight or electric razor. It is held by hand and pressed against the front side of the neck when in use. It transmits sound into the pharynx to form sound. The sound produced by the electronic larynx is loud and it is easy to use and simple to learn.

The earliest domestic electronic throat manufacturer was the Department of Otolaryngology of Guangzhou First People's Hospital, and it has been widely used in China. The neck electronic throat is light in weight, has clear pronunciation, less noise, adjustable volume, and stable performance. It is currently one of the better domestic electronic throat models.

The mechanism of foreign electronic laryngeal devices is basically similar. The vibrator is driven by a battery to generate sound energy, which is transmitted to the oropharynx through the vibrating membrane and the soft tissue of the neck.

Intraoral electronic throat

The intraoral electronic throat is also called an electronic speech aid. The CooperRand electronic throat was developed in 1957 by dentist Cooper and Rand Company. The sound generator is connected by wires, and the plastic mouth tube is installed on the generator. When in use, the plastic mouth tube is placed in the mouth to transmit sound, and the tone can be adjusted. Now there are many improvements to facilitate patient use, such as adding a humidifier filter to prevent saliva from entering the sound generator.

Implantable electronic laryngoscope

This is a new type of electronic larynx, which is still being improved. Its advantages are small size, high efficiency, and no need to use both hands. However, this type of electronic larynx requires implantation surgery and is not widely accepted by people without larynx, so its application scope is relatively small.