Analysis of Phonetic Segments of Oesophageal Speech in People Following Total Laryngectomy

Abstract

This paper presents an approach to extraction techniques for speaker recognition following total laryngectomy surgery. The aim of the research was to develop a pattern of physical features describing the oesophageal speech in people after experiencing laryngeal cancer. Research results may support the speech rehabilitation of laryngectomised patients by improving the quality of oesophageal speech. The main goal of the research was to isolate the physical features of oesophageal speech and to compare their values with the descriptors of physiological speech. Words (in Polish) used during speech rehabilitation were analyzed. Each of these words was divided into phonetic segments from which the physical features of speech were extracted. The values of the acquired speech descriptors were then used to create a vector of the physical features of oesophageal speech. A set of these features will determine a model that should allow us to recognize whether the speech-rehabilitation process is proceeding correctly and also provide a selection of bespoke procedures that we could introduce to each patient. This research is a continuation of the analysis of oesophageal speech published previously. This time, the effectiveness of parameterization was tested using methodologies for analyzing the phonetic segments of each word.