Oncologic therapy of laryngeal cancer may necessitate a total excision of the larynx which results in loss of voice. Voice rehabilitation can be achieved using mucosal tissue vibrations at the upper part of the esophagus which serves as substitute voice generating element (PE segment). The quality of the substitute voice is closely related to vibratory characteristics of the PE segment. By mean...

The use of computers and technology to treat patients with developmental problems or rehabilitation needs is an emerging field. Implementation of such treatment methods however has not traditionally been easy, requiring expensive equipment, significant programming experience and the time of trained medical professionals. The release of gaming systems with natural user interfaces has opened up n...

For patients with laryngeal cancer, rehabilitation following laryngectomy may be difficult. However, significant variability in coping skills and adaptation of this patient population exists. Healthcare providers commonly perceive disfigurement, alteration in function (i.e., loss of natural voice), and disease control as the most relevant issues in the postoperative period, yet patients and the...

BACKGROUND Repeated encounters over time enable general practitioners (GPs) to accumulate biomedical and biographical knowledge about their patients. A growing body of evidence documenting the medical relevance of lifetime experiences indicates that health personnel ought to appraise this type of knowledge and consider how to incorporate it into their treatment of patients. In order to explore ...

Introduction:Dystonia is a disorder of movement caused by various etiologies. Laryngeal dystonia is caused by the spasm of laryngeal muscles. It is a disorder caused by vocal fold movement in which excessive adduction or abduction of the vocal folds occurs during speech. The pathophysiology of this type of dystonia is not fully known. Some researchers have suggested that basal ganglia structure...

Respiratory muscle strength training (RMST) focuses on increasing the force-generating capacity of the inspiratory and expiratory muscles. The choice of respiratory muscles that are targeted using RMST depends on the outcome desired. For example, if an individual has reduced inspiratory muscle strength due to a neurogenic injury and is unable to ventilate the lungs, then inspiratory muscle stre...

This paper describes a practical dictation system that is able to compensate for the lack of a large text database and reports on the results of eld tests in which the system was used to make medical rehabilitation diagnosis reports in a hospital. Our dictation system uses two recognition engines: continuous speech recognition and isolated word (including connected words) recognition engines. W...

INTRODUCTION In a group of persons using the voice occupationally, the frequent symptoms are hoarseness, voice fatigability and aphonia. Pathological changes in the larynx may have organic or functional character which require different methods of treatment and rehabilitation. Visualization of vibrations of the vocal folds is an essential condition for an appropriate assessment of the causes of...

Loss of voice after total laryngectomy often prevents patients from reintegrating into society. This fact can also cause to be hesitant undergo surgery. Therefore, the early introduction alternative is essential for relieving anxiety and enhancing rehabilitation these patients. To achieve this, we introduced following methods: interprofessional work (IPW) between doctors, nurses, speech therapi...

We describe the use of telehealth technology in the rehabilitation of a college student with bronchopulmonary dysplasia. The present telerehabilitation application was necessitated by the absence of a formal university-based pulmonary rehabilitation program at Texas State University-San Marcos. Patient referral, evaluation, and rehabilitation were accomplished via interdisciplinary efforts of 3...