Different aspects of alaryngeal speech, both esophageal and tracheo-esophageal speech, are being analysed in a joint project between the Department of Speech Communication and Music Acoustics, KTH, and the Department of Logopedics and Phoniatrics, Karolinska Institutet. The purpose of the present part of the project was to evaluate the speech performance of four laryngectomee speakers and one normal speaker were evaluated while they were reading texts aloud with varying amounts of noise in their ears. The noise consisted of a number of voices in a cacophony. Acoustic speech parameters, such as sound pressure and spectral characteristics, were measured and compared among the subjects. Preliminary results show that the tracheo-esophageal speakers were able to raise their voice level as much as the normal laryngeal speakers. The esophageal speakers on the other hand were usually not able to produce as strong voice levels during the text readings. This type of test method with speech in background noise seems promising for assessment of voice effort. In a second part of the present investigation, intelligibility tests were performed. Normal-hearing listeners were asked to adjust the level of noise when exposed to the tape-recorded readings of the laryngectomized speakers, the task being to use a high level of noise while still being able to understand the read passage. The result of the intelligibility test revealed that the listeners tolerated a higher degree of noise, when listening to normal, laryngeal speakers, than to the alaryngeal speakers. Also, the listeners accepted a little more noise when listening to the tracheo-esophageal speakers than to the esophageal speakers.

Keywords: laryngectomee speech, intelligibility tests, sound pressure level, speech in noise