Host: The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
Name : [in Japanese]
Date : September 13, 2020 - September 16, 2020
Presently, there are many patients who lost their voice caused by layngectomy, laryngeal injury and so on. The voice is very important communication method for human, and when the voice was lost, the patients often causes the mental distress. For these patients, the research about speech production substitutes are implemented. However, they have problems with regard of voice quality, articulation and intonation. For example, the electrolarynx has good features of voice continuity, sound volume and acquisition. However, it has poor voice articulation because of its uncontrollable pitch frequency. Our research aims to realize the electrolarynx with high-level controllability. We focused on using the myoelectric signal of sternohyoid muscle (SH) to control the electrolarynx. The SH has the function of vocal cords relaxation and activate during the utterance of low-tone voice. Therefore, the pitch frequency of electrolarynx can be controlled using the myoelectric signal of SH. In this report, we performed an experiment for the controllability evaluation using the control signal obtained from the myoelectric potential signal in order to control the pitch frequency of the electric larynx in two steps, high and low. The experimental result was compared from the result of three steps (high, middle and low) control, and it was confirmed that this method had the high control accuracy.
