Speech and vocational rehabilitation of the laryngectomized patient

Abstract Eighty‐five patients underwent total laryngectomy or total laryngectomy in continuity with a radical neck dissection during the five year period 1964 through 1968. Forty‐eight patients (56.4%) were able to learn esophageal speech; six were rated as excellent, 25 as good, eight as fair, and nine as poor. Nineteen patients (22.4%) who either could not learn esophageal speech or had no desire to learn were able to communicate with the aid of an electronic speaking device. Of the 53 patients gainfully employed outside the home prior to surgery, only 22 were able to return to work. Forty of the 48 patients who learned esophageal speech were gainfully employed outside the home before surgery, but only 19 (47%) were able to return to work.