Medical Breakthroughs: New device helping patients with throat cancer
Related Story
Throat cancer can cause patients to lose the ability to speak.
This type of cancer is one of the hardest for doctors to diagnose, but a new device could help some patients get their voice back.
Ben Watson has spent 40 years in entertainment, from TV to music.
But soon after filming a behind-the-scenes video in 2015, Watson got laryngitis, and it kept coming back; it was cancer. To save him, surgeons removed his voice box, rendering him unable to speak on his own.
"It's overwhelming in a lot of cases. Voice is a lot about our identity," Greater Baltimore Medical Center Senior Speech-Language Pathologist Ana Minisci said.
But through the devastation, hope.
Watson is now one of the first in the United States to use a device helping him speak clearly again.
It's called Ava Voice. The device attaches to the patient's throat to capture their breath.
"That air then creates vibration within the device and the patient uses the straw into the mouth to deliver the vibration within the vocal track that way," Minisci said.
No surgery required. It can create a voice that's easier to understand compared to other external speech devices available.
"This is the Electrolarynx, so it's a lot different. The Ava Voice is a lot more natural," Watson said.
Clinicians say Ava Voice creates more options for people who haven't had a voice prosthesis implanted.
"And that's really our goal. It's just finding a voice that meets that person' needs, whatever that is," Minisci said.
For Watson, it's helped him return to his passion, entertaining.
"I feel really good now, about where I'm heading," Watson said.
Laronix, the developers of Ava Voice, are in talks with 32 hospitals across the country to offer this device to more patients.
News
