Can You Hear My Voice?

Thursday, April 14, 2022 from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM

UH World Voice Day program spotlights award-winning documentary of laryngectomy patient choir, UH ENT patients and physicians

First they could not speak, until surgery to remove their voice boxes cured their cancer. But then – through the miracle of modern medicine – they could lift their voices to sing.

On Thursday, April 14, in celebration of World Voice Day, University Hospitals ENT Institute and Seidman Cancer Center will jointly host a unique virtual program from 6-7 p.m. that will bring together patients who have undergone life-changing surgery on their voice boxes with UH surgeons Ted Teknos, Scott Howard and Nicole Fowler, who care for these patients. During the hour-long program, the surgeons will provide personal insights on the laryngectomy procedure and rehabilitation of the voice. UH laryngectomy patients, and film director Bill Brummel – himself a laryngectomy patient – will discuss what it is like living with a laryngectomy.

The Emmy-nominated and Peabody award-winning documentarian lost his voice box in 2016 after long-term radiation for tonsil cancer created irreversible scarring of his larynx. “Can You Hear My Voice?” showcases members of a London-based choir who have all undergone this procedure to cure cancer of the voice box, which leaves survivors breathing through a surgically created hole in the front of their neck and speaking through a voice prosthesis situated between the trachea and the esophagus. The Shout at Cancer Choir is directed by Dr. Thomas Moors, a London-based physician and life-long singer.

“The voice is such an important part of who we are,” says program moderator N. Scott Howard, MD, MBA, an ENT and head and neck surgeon who will lead the discussion. Dr. Howard, a laryngologist who specializes in management of laryngectomy patients, also is Director of the Voice, Airway and Swallowing Center at UH Cleveland Medical Center. “This World Voice Day event will provide us a way to converse with some of our northeast Ohio patients, their surgeons and speech pathologists – learning from their experiences while living life with a laryngectomy.”

UH speech language pathologists Lex Rakowski and Tracey Newman also will participate in the discussion and take questions from the audience during this event to showcase World Voice Day, a worldwide annual event on April 16 devoted to celebrating the enormous importance of the voice in the daily lives of all people.

“The voice is an instrument of personal expression.” says Lex Rakowski, a speech and language therapist at UH Cleveland Medical Center. “And not only does our voice allow us to convey our thoughts and desires, it grants us the ability to connect to the world around us.”

Registrants for the webinar event will receive a token to watch the full film.

Register Now