Vibrating gel may give new voice to throat-cancer patients
Langer, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientist whose work has created two dozen biotechnology startups, is developing a gel that can vibrate up to 200 times a second -- replicating the action of human vocal cords -- to rejuvenate the damaged voices of singers such as Daltrey and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler , both of whom have contributed funding for the project, along with actress and singer Julie Andrews, Bloomberg reports.
More than 13,000 Americans diagnosed each year with throat tumors may be helped by the efforts of the singers, the scientist and the surgeon who brought them together, Harvard University 's Steven Zeitels. Langer and Zeitels plan to test the gel in a cancer patient for the first time in 2012.
"Unless you've been touched personally, it's difficult to see, but there are millions of people who have no voice whatsoever," said Daltrey, who was operated on for precancerous throat lesions two years ago, and couldn't speak for two weeks.
The gel is injected directly into the vocal cords. Once there, it's designed to behave the same way as the uninjured membrane, responding to breathe and muscle tension by vibrating as if it was the real thing, Zeitels said. The research has also been funded by the nonprofitInstitute of Laryngology and Voice Restoration , where Andrews is an honorary chairwoman.
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