Speech Therapy Treatment in India

Angel Sharma, a 65-year-old retired librarian,...

Angel Sharma, a 65-year-old retired librarian, underwent a total laryngectomy for advanced laryngeal cancer a year ago. While cancer-free, she now breathed through a stoma in her neck and had lost her natural voice. She communicated through writing and gestures, feeling socially invisible and deeply depressed. Her ENT surgeon referred her to a speech therapist for alaryngeal speech rehabilitation. Angel was fitted with a tracheoesophageal prosthesis and began learning esophageal speech and how to use an electrolarynx. The initial phase was frustrating; producing sound felt foreign and awkward. With patient, persistent therapy, she mastered tracheoesophageal speech, allowing her to speak by diverting lung air through her prosthesis. She can now talk on the phone with her grandchildren and confidently order her own coffee. Regaining a form of audible speech transformed her outlook, moving her from grief and isolation to empowerment and re-engagement with the world around her.