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Speaking with someone else's voice

Jan 20, 2011#1

Matt²

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110120/ap_on_he_me/us_med_voice_box_transplant_1

World's second voice box transplant surgery.

My question is... does she (or will she, once she heals up fully) sound like herself or the other person?

Jan 20, 2011#2

strawman

Voice is modulated by the vocal cords, the voice box, the throat, and the mouth.

The vocal cords and larynx will largely define the tone of her voice, which may shift up or down compared to her previous voice, but the rest of the system defines a large portion of how a person sounds (pronunciation, lisp, etc).

She certainly won't sound like the other person, though, as the majority of the sound modulation comes from the total system, not simply the vocal cords and larynx.

Jan 21, 2011#3

PatrThom

Yes. Even with an artificial larynx (or even a talkbox), it is usually possible to recognize someone's inflection/cadence/timing.

--Patrick

Jan 21, 2011#4

Cheesy1

She was all over the news here because she's from Modesto.

Jan 22, 2011#5

Matt²

PatrThom said:
Yes. Even with an artificial larynx (or even a talkbox), it is usually possible to recognize someone's inflection/cadence/timing.

--Patrick

Mine has changed some since my accident. I'm still rebuilding my vocal vocabulary (sometimes I can't think of the word I'm looking for to save my life..other times I speak way too fast and end up sayingeverythingallatonce) .. last night I tried to mix two sentences into one quick word lol! I call it verbal dyslexia. .. but maybe a better term would be vocal dyslexia.

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