People who underwent larynx surgery face a necessity of a voice prosthesis implantation. Scientists of South Ural State University are developing a Russian analogue of such an apparatus which will be several times cheaper than the imported products.
A student of the SUSU Institute of Sport, Tourism and Service Nikita Dubrovskiy is working on the development of Russian voice prosthesis, which will help to solve the problem of the absence of audible speech of larynx removal surgery patients.
“The problem is that such an apparatus has to be replaced after approximately one year. Imported prostheses are quite expensive, so we decided to come up with our own development, which will feature similar technical characteristics, but will be much cheaper. Besides, the abroad-manufactured prostheses are mostly made of plastic, which is very inconvenient because it’s hard. We’re planning to use food silicones,” explains Nikita Dubrovskiy.
The 3D computer model of the voice prosthesis has already been created, and it will be possible to use it in 3D printing. Using a stereolithographic 3D printer, scientists of the SUSU Research Center for Sport Science have created a model and a prototype of the apparatus, which will be sent for clinical testing in Chelyabinsk Regional Center for Oncology and Nuclear Medicine.
The research results have already been presented at a science-to-practice conference for young scientists on Academic Readings: Fundamental Sciences and Clinical Medicine, as well as allowed student Nikita Dubrovskiy become one of the winners of an authoritative program UMNIK aimed at supporting commercially oriented scientific and engineering projects of young researchers.