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The perception and production of linguistic tone was investigated in utterances spoken by Thai alaryngeal speakers. Thai is a tone language with five phonemic tones. High-quality tape recordings of five monosyllabic words produced by 2 esophageal, 1 electrolaryngeal, and 5 normal, native Thai speakers were subjected to perceptual and acoustic analysis. Results from the phonemic identification tests indicated that tones produced by alaryngeal speakers were not only perceived at much lower levels of accuracy than those produced by normal speakers, but the patterns of tonal confusions for alaryngeal speakers were also dissimilar to those for normal speakers. Results from fundamental frequency (Fo) analysis revealed that the performance deficit of alaryngeal speakers could be related to specific characteristics of their Fo contours. Findings are interpreted to highlight the importance of (a) language, (b) type of prosody, (c) form of alaryngeal speech, and (d) Fo level and direction on linguistic assessments of Fo control in alaryngeal speech.

An autopsy of a six-hour-old term neonate, who died during surgery for repair of a left diaphragmatic hernia, revealed an infantile hemangioendothelioma type I arising in a heterotopic lobe of liver in the left thorax. The upper pole of the tumor was attached by fibrovascular tissue to the lower lobe of the left hypoplastic lung. A pedicle attached to the lower pole of the heterotopic liver pierced through the diaphragm to the left lobe of the normal liver. This case is an example of an unusual association of congenital malformation and putative neoplasm.

Acoustic features of pharyngeal /s/ substitutions spoken by persons with cleft palate were measured using digital computer processing and analysis techniques. Average short-time spectral characteristics of pharyngeal /s/ sounds produced by four speakers with cleft palate were compared with spectral features of normally gestured /s/ sounds spoken by two normal speakers. The output spectral characterized by a set of distinctive acoustic properties that differed markedly from normal /s/ sounds gestured in the front of the mouth. One consistent feature of pharyngeal /s/'s was the presence of multiple spectral maxima. Pharyngealization of /s/ consonants gave rise to spectral outputs with energy maxima appropriate to high F1 values which were relatively close to F2, as well as to relatively strong, low frequency excitation of F2 speakers with cleft palate were, in general, comparable to those of /h/ fricatives spoken by speakers of Arabic.

This project was a perceptual investigation of lexical stress in alaryngeal speech. The ability of alaryngeal speakers to signal lexical stress in American English was assessed by obtaining high-quality tape recordings of noun-verb oppositions (e.g., 'insult vs. in'sult) from four normal and 16 laryngectomized speakers using four different types of alaryngeal speech. The recordings of these words were presented to 30 listeners for perceptual evaluation using a two-interval-forced-choice procedure. As expected, the four normal speakers achieved high (93% or above) levels of stress contrast. Lexical stress contrasts were also achieved at a high level of proficiency (88% or above) by all four esophageal speakers, all four tracheoesophageal speakers, one of four users of the Western Electric electrolarynx, and two of four users of the Servox electrolarynx. Lexical stress contrasts were realized in a less (82-86%) but reasonably effective manner by one Western Electric user and two Servox users. The findings were interpreted to highlight the contributions that study of clinical samples may make to investigations of speech production and speech perception.

Research has shown that cleft lip and palate individuals have higher nasal airway resistance than normal subjects (Warren, Duany, and Fischer, 1969). The present work examined the predictive nature of modeled velopharyngeal orifice area calculations obtained using the hydrokinetic equation (Warren and DuBois, 1964) under conditions simulating increased degrees of nasal obstruction. The results of this project suggested that Warren's hydrokinetic method can be used to obtain accurate estimates of velopharyngeal orifice area under conditions of increased nasal airway resistance when airflow rates are nonvariant.

Results of a small number of studies (Warren and DuBois, 1964; Lubker, 1969; Smith and Weinberg, 1980; Horii and Lang, 1981) have led to expression of divergent views concerning the accuracy of modeled velopharyngeal orifice area estimates obtained on the basis of hydrokinetic principles. In this work, the hydrokinetic equation (Warren and DuBois, 1964) was subjected to experimentation: (1) in which flow rates through a vocal tract model were not varied and (2) in which flow rates were varied to simulate pressure/flow events found during voiceless, stop consonant production. With consideration given to instrumental and procedural factors, results indicated that accurate estimates of modeled velopharyngeal orifice areas can be obtained during steady flow conditions and during alternating flow conditions when measurements are made at airflow peaks. Results were interpreted to provide strong support for clinical and research use of the hydrokinetic equation to predict velopharyngeal orifice areas during stop consonant production.

A new sonographic pattern of pulmonary consolidation associated with air-filled bronchi in children is presented. The consolidated area of the lung is usually hypoechoic, poorly defined, and wedge-shaped. The air-filled bronchi produce linear, high-amplitude branching echoes that converge toward the lung root. Posterior acoustic shadowing and reverberation artifacts are seen accompanying the proximal large bronchi. A comparative study is presented in which 30 pediatric patients with clinical and radiographic evidence of pneumonia were sonographically evaluated. Twenty-eight patients were successfully examined with sonography. The cases were divided into three groups: (1) consolidated lung without pleural effusion (19 patients); (2) consolidated lung with small pleural effusion (five patients); and (3) consolidated lung with partial compression atelectasis due to large pleural effusion (four patients).

The voice onset times (VOT) of a large number of stop-consonant initiated syllables produced by esophageal and normal speakers were measured. Esophageal speakers systematically varied VOT during the production of speech-sound categories with the same manner of production. Average voice onset times associated with the production of prevocalic voiceless stops of esophageal speakers were significantly shorter than those of normal speakers, while takler-group comparisons associated with the production of voiced prevocalic stops were nonsignificant. Voice onset times of both esophageal and normal speakers were differentially sensitive to place of articulation. Findings are discussed in terms of furthering current understanding of how effectively esophageal speakers achieve important phonological contrasts.

A case of unsuspected aspiration of an oropharyngeal airway causing dysphagia is described. Visualization of this airway on plain film would be facilitated if radio-opaque material were included at manufacture.

Two simplified methods for obtaining estimates of the area of the velopharyngeal orifice using nasal airflow and orifice differential pressure measures are described. In these methods, orifice areas are estimated by merely coordinating points on a graph or by interpolating values from a table. The accuracy of orifice area estimation by these methods compares favorably with estimation by other currently used methods. These simplified methods were developed to enlarge the application of hydraulic techniques by practicing clinicians.

Five laryngectomized, tracheoesophageal (TE) speakers completed a series of phonatory tasks developed to assess (a) aerodynamic and acoustic properties of TE voice and (b) aerodynamic and myoelastic contributions to the mediation of fundamental frequency change. These TE speakers' voices were characterized by increased trans-source airflow rates, comparable source driving pressures, and decreased airway resistances in comparison with standard esophageal speakers. TE speakers were capable of adjusting their voicing sources on a myoelastic basis to influence Fo change. This result, coupled with findings that confirm aerodynamic contributions to TE phonation, are interpreted to suggest that TE voice production should be regarded as an aerodynamic-myoelastic event. Findings are integrated with existing data to highlight fundamental differences among TE, esophageal, and normal voice production.

The duration of a large number of representative vowels produced by 10 esophageal and nine normal speakers were measured. Overall vowel durations of esophageal speakers were consistently longer than those of normal speakers, indicating that esophageal speakers do not compensate for their striking diminution in air supply for speech by decreasing vowel duration. The differences in the vowel duration characteristics between normal and esophageal speakers were observed to vary systematically as a function of the voicing features of their consonant environments. Specifically, the durations of vowels of esophageal speakers spoken within voiceless consonant environments were consistently longer than those spoken in similar contexts by normal speakers. There were no significant differences between the average durations of vowels spoken by normal and exophageal speakers within voiced consonant speakers differed significantly as a function of the voicing features of their consonant context was interpreted to support the belief that inherent, rule-governed durational features of English are retained following laryngeal amputation.

The reed fistula method is under development as a method of voice restoration in patients who have undergone larynogopharyngectomy. Introducing extrinsic sound into the pharynx involves a series of biomedical engineering problems. The approaches to solution of these problems are covered in the present article.