Surface electromyography of neck strap muscles for estimating the intended pitch of a bionic voice source

Abstract

Despite the emerging progress in many subfields of bionics, developing a working bionic voice prosthesis for voice-loss patients has remained an unresolved research question. A bionic voice prosthesis replaces the function of a missing larynx and generates natural voice for patients who retain a functional vocal tract but have lost their voice because of surgical removal of the larynx (laryngectomy) due to larynx cancer or swallowing disorders. The main category of patients to receive this solution is laryngectomy patients. The pitch (fundamental frequency) is the highest contributor of generating natural voice for laryngectomy patients. Hence designing a bionic voice solution requires enabling the patient with a convenient mechanism to control the pitch of their substitute voice. In this research, the neuromuscular activity of the neck straps muscles is analyzed using advanced signal processing methods to provide a natural mechanism of controlling the pitch of a future bionic voice source. The result significantly improves the current state of the art techniques of using neuromuscular cues for estimating the pitch.