Esophageal speech, also known as
esophageal voice, is a method of
speech production that involves oscillation of the
esophagus. This contrasts with traditional
laryngeal speech which involves oscillation of the
vocal folds. Instead, air is injected into the upper esophagus and then released in a controlled manner to create sound used to produce speech. Esophageal speech is a learned skill that requires speech training and much practice. Because of the high level of difficulty in learning esophageal speech, some patients are unable to master the skill.