Background:
Total laryngectomy leads to significant changes to breathing, communication and swallowing. These changes may have a profound impact on a person’s social life, self-esteem and psychological well-being. There is growing evidence that singing interventions may lead to improved vocal function in people with laryngectomy. Our Speech and Language Therapy team has recently piloted a choir for people following laryngectomy as an adjunct to the current communication rehabilitation service, in conjunction with professional singers and a choir director.
Methods:
This was a qualitative study comprising of an unstructured interview with three participants (two people post-laryngectomy with surgical voice restoration and one spouse) on their experience of participating in a choir. Thematic analysis was completed on the data.
Results:
The analysis revealed six themes. These included: (i) peer support, (ii) post-traumatic growth, (iii) overcoming communication barriers, (iv) sense of accountability to the group, (v) exploring the new voice, (vi) embracing the new voice.
Conclusions:
This study indicates that group singing may offer multiple psychological and quality-of-life benefits to people with laryngectomy who use tracheoesophageal voice. Inclusion of people who use other communication methods (oesophageal and electrolaryngeal speech) in future research is warranted.