Evaluation of New Control Method for Neck Myoelectric Control-type Electrolarynx

We have developed the controllable electrolarynx for the patients who lost their voice by various reasons. The voice is very important communication method for human being, these patients become to have trouble by losing of their voice. Therefore, some methods to rebuild the voice were developed and are used presently for these patients. But, these methods have some problems as follows: voice quality, acquirement, usability, appearances, and so on. In our previous research, we produced the controllable electrolarynx controlled by neck myoelectric signal, and its controllability was estimated. From the results of these research, we found the suitable control function for electrolarynx control and realized the 83 % of control accuracy for three steps control: “High”, “Mid” and “Low”. In this report, we tried to establish the two steps control: “High” and “Low”, based on the advice from some medical doctors. In this establishment process, the control accuracies using of three control functions were estimated and the it was clarified that the highest control accuracy was over 93%.