Dear all,
I have had the following request from a friend. Since I do not have the answer, I thought to turn to the list. Hope you can help.
Many thanks in advance,
Ruth
"Our friend had to have a laryngectomy a few years ago. He speaks through a HME, in a hole in his throat. I am told HME is Humidity Moisture Exchanger. He has to push a little "button" on the HME to speak through it.
I asked him if there was such a thing as "hands free" HME. Well yes he has got one and he demonstrated it to me. I think it is branded PROVOX. It is useful when he needs both hands free to work, for example on the phone and on the computer. However the thing about this "hands free" HME is that it requires a fair bit of air lung pressure from within to operate. It gets tiring to use for long periods.
I wonder if someone could possibly produce an HME that could be "switched" "remotely" by something like a small button in the pocket or even a wave of the hand or some sort of trigger (Bluetooth or WiFi?) Probably battery powered? But the HME cannot be too heavy as it sits on a hole in the throat. I think a little bit of power might be required to "switch" the HME so any battery pack might need to be bigger than a small cell battery and therefore might have to be separate from the HME but
connect by cable. An inconvenience maybe, but something that users might prefer in some circumstances.
Well if you can come up with anything, our friend will be happy to give it a trial."
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