Abstract
The patients who have the tracheostoma caused by respiratory managements in case of post-operation, deglutition disorder, ALS and so on, must use the tacheal cannulas. The cannulas don't lead their breaths their vocal cords, as the results, they lose their voice by using the cannulas. To solve this problem, the speaking valve had been developed. This valve has a one-way valve mechanism, it opens when the user breaths in, and closes when user breaths out or vocalizes. Many users can get back their voices by these valves, but some users feel closeness in case of exhalation without phonation. Therefore, we aimed to develop a controllable speaking valve by user's will, and we chose the surface myoelectric signal of the sternohyoid muscle as the control signal. A prototype of controllable speaking valve was developed and confirmed its efficiency. Furthermore, a compact type speaking valve was proposed and evaluated its flow resistance by FEM analysis. From the result of FEM analysis, it was confirmed that the shape of flow channel had an effect on flow resistance. In this report, the proposal of neck myoelectric control-type speaking valve and the shape refinement of its flow channel were described.
