Surface Electromyographic Activity of Extrinsic Laryngeal Muscles in Cantonese Tone Production

摘要

Patients after total laryngectomy lose their ability to speak. Electrolarynx is a commonly used electronic device that helps these patients to verbally communicate. However, existing electrolarynx systems do not provide pitch control function, which is critical in speech communication especially for tonal languages. This study investigated the surface electromyographic (sEMG) activity of extrinsic laryngeal muscles in producing speech sounds of different pitches by normal speakers. In particular, the sEMG signals for producing different lexical tones of Cantonese were extracted and analyzed. The experimental results on Cantonese tone production confirmed that the sEMGsignal from sternocleidomastoid muscle can be used to differentiate high-pitch tones from low-pitch tones. This reveals the potential of developing pitch-controlled EL systems for laryngectomees who speak Cantonese and other tonal languages.