XLIV Temporal and Pitch Aspects of Superior Esophageal Speech

Abstract

in 1954 listed a bibliography of 88 items rela tive to esophageal speech. Since that time Robe, Moore, Andrews and Holinger 18 have contributed a major study to the field as have Bateman, Dornhurst, and Leathheart. 3 No doubt other studies are in the hands of the publishers or in progress.The study of available source material dating from 1859 indicates a great deal of material on the incidence of cancer of the larynx and survival rate subsequent to laryngectomy, 16 the nature of the opera tion, 918 pedagogy, 2 and approximately 20 studies that agree in placing the usual locus of vibration at the level of the cricopharyngeus sphinc ter, 18 but which do not preclude other vibrators. 910 Among the more important considerations is the rather general agreement that the aircharge is usually small 22 and that for successful speakers it is taken into and expelled from the upper esophagus rather than from the stomach or lower esophagus 18 as assumed by early writers.Generally speaking, available source materials have little to offer in the way of normative statistical information that gives direct answers to such important questions as: a) How many words and syllables can be spoken per charge of swallowed air? b) How long does it take to swallow a charge of air? c) What rate in words per minute can be achieved relative to normal speech? d) What character istics of pitch level and variability can be anticipated in esophageal speech?It is the purpose of this study to describe the time and pitch performances of six superior esophageal speakers utilizing speech sam-

An Investigation of the Airflow Characteristics of Pulmonary Air Expulsion During Esophageal Speech

“…Such change s are observed in articulation (DiCarlo, Amster, and Herer, 1955;Hyman, 1955;Diedrich and Youngstrom, 1966), pitch (Snidecor and Curry, 1959;Curry and Snidecor, 1961), loudness (Hyman, 1955), speaking rate (Snidecor and Curry, 1959;Berlin, 1965) and phrasing (DiCarlo et al, 1955).…”

“…Several parameters of speech intelligibility have been used. DiCarlo et al (1955) specified the number of cor rect phonemes, and phrasing related to speech intelligibility, while Snidecor and Curry (1959) and Berlin (1965) point out the importance of syllables per air intake. Shipp (1967), on the other hand, studied the "acceptability" of alaryngeal speech in relation to several phonatory variable s.…”

Correlates of sophisticated listener judgments of esophageal air intake noise

“…The number of syllables uttered per esophageal air intake has been identified as one of the skills associated with the acquisition of esophageal speech (Berlin, 1963;Damste, 1979;Gardner, 1978;Snidecor & Curry, 1959). This measure has usually been obtained by counting a subject's repetitions of a designated monosyllable.…”

“…Rate is a parameter which has been associated with esophageal speech proficiency (Snidecor & Curry, 1959;Hoops & Noll, 1969). This association, however, does not assure that a faster rate of speech will be predictive of intake noise acceptability, since intake noise is but one of many factors which may influence overall speech proficiency ratings.…”

A comparative study of perceptual ratings and fundamental frequency in female and male esophageal voices

“…Male subjects have been used in studies to obtain statistical and descriptive data on the physiological correlates of esophageal speech (DiCarlo, Amster and Herer, 1955;Snidecor and Isshiki, 1965a;Lavorato, 1970;Murray and Brown, 1975), the acoustic parameters of fundamental frequency, intens.ity and rate (Snidecor and Curry, 1959), and dimensions of articulatory change (Christensen and Weinberg, 1976;Nichols, 1976).…”