Ratings of intelligibility of esophageal and tracheoesophageal speech.

Audio-recorded oral reading and continuous discourse speech samples were obtained from esophageal and tracheoesophageal speakers. The samples were rated twice by each of two groups of listeners, one experienced and the other inexperienced with alaryngeal speech. The main finding was that reliable mean ratings of intelligibility of both types of speech can be obtained from experienced and from inexperienced judges. The experienced and inexperienced listeners tended to rank the speakers similarly with regard to the intelligibility of their speech samples. The reading and discourse samples also tended to be ranked similarly with regard to intelligibility. The tracheoesophageal speakers' samples as a group were rated as more intelligible than were those of the esophageal speakers.