PHONATORY SUPPORT - A NEW WAY OF VOICE AND SPEECH RESTORATION, AFTER LARYNGECTOMY

Voice or phonatory support is the term to describe a valve-operated plastic hollow body locked in a shunt which has been formed by hypopharyngeal punctur, following laryngectomy. Along with tracheostoma closure, it actually enables during expiration transfer of air to the pharynx. This has proved helpful to many patients after laryngectomy in accomplishing much better phonation and speech communication. "Phonatory fistulae" surgically applied in the past had always implied a risk of aspiration, which has now been eliminated by the closing valve in the pharyngeal end of the prosthesis.