Development.--A new artificial larynx for persons who have lost their voices through surgical removal (laryngectomy) or paralysis of their vocal cords was described by three Bell Telephone Laboratories scientists at a recent meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, in Ottawa, Canada. Still in the experimental stage, it is the result of a considerable background of research in an interdisciplinary field of science known as psychoacoustics.
Great impetus to development of the device was given by some of the nation's foremost surgeons connected with the National Hospital for Speech Disorders. They felt that, what with the great advances in electronics brought about by the transistor, specialists in acoustics research coukt devise a far better artificial larynx than any presently available.
With a minimum of difficult5' and training, laryngectomees can use the new electronic larynx to speak conversationally. It is especially effective when conversing over the telephone.
By meaus of a finger-operated combination push-to-talk switch and inflection control, the user can easily control the pitch of his artificial voice, thus giving his speech a natural sounding quality previously unobtainable.
The underlying principle of the new artificial larynx is a vibrating driver (transducer) held against the throat. Completely self-contained and cylindrically shaped, it measures only 1 a inches in diameter by 3~ inches long-thus acceding to plaints of laryngectomized people for an unobtrusive device.