Woman's Voice Restored After Larynx Transplant 246
mvar writes "A woman in the US is able to speak for the first time in 11 years after a pioneering voicebox transplant. Brenda Jensen said the operation, which took place in California, was a miracle which had restored her life. Thirteen days after the surgery she said her first words: 'Good morning, I want to go home.' It is the first time a larynx and windpipe have been transplanted at the same time (image) and only the second time a larynx has ever been transplanted. In October, surgeons at the University of California Davis Medical Center removed the larynx, thyroid gland and 6cm of the trachea from a donor body. In an 18-hour operation, this was transplanted into Ms. Jensen's throat and the team connected it to her blood supply and nerves. Thirteen days later, she was able to speak her first croaky words and is now able to talk easily for long periods of time."
And so ends (Score:5, Funny)
The happiest 11 years of one man's life.
A quote comes to mind ;) (Score:2)
"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened." -- Obi Wan, Star Wars Episode IV
This raises questions: (Score:3)
What does she sound like now, anyway? And what was her voice like before?
Re:This raises questions: (Score:5, Funny)
She sounds like James Earl Jones now. The good news is she also sounded like him before.
Re: (Score:2)
I know we could have animals use computers to talk, but I'm curious what they'd do if they had a suitable larynx.
Re:This raises questions: (Score:4, Interesting)
Talking needs both the suitable anatomy and the right "circuitry" (i.e. brain connection). While we may be able to implant a suitable larynx, the animal lacks the suitable brain connection for two reasons:
1) There was no evolutionary push to develop it, since there was no suitable anatomy (assuming the anatomy and neuroanatomy develop together).
2) There was no push for the brain circuits to develop in the animal's life, in the same way that a deaf person will not be able to hear properly, even with a hearing aid implantation (a cochlear implant), if he didn't hear anything in the first few years of his life.
Re: (Score:2)
You can teach gorillas sign language, but they will have a rather low vocabulary, and they don't use grammar rules. They also suck at maths.
For 3 year old child it takes 2 repetition to learn a new word, while for a gorilla it takes around 10. (I took a cognitive science course at uni.)
See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koko_(gorilla) [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:2)
I agree that the brain can do many amazing things, but there is a difference between reclaiming a lost function (like motor ability and sensation after a stroke) and learning a newability from scratch, an ability that the brain has not been exposed to in the critical period of infancy/early childhood.
The brain can learn new stuff, but usually as an extension of something it has already learned. Experiments with people who were born deaf show the poor results you get with a cochlear implant if it implanted a
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You can hear her on the video in TFA. She sounds a bit like Yoda crossed with disguised Leia, but you can see how momentous it is for her. Really quite moving.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
1. The talking guitar (most famously, Peter Frampton's). The sound is produced by a guitar but modulated by his head and sent to a second microphone.
2. The little buzzers that produce a robot-like voice in people who have had a laryngectomy (Ned on South Park is probably the most famous fictional character I can think of with this, although that e
Oh noes! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Oh noes! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
"Real females" vs "trannies." How tactful.
How does tact enter into this?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Black people call each other "nigga" too, but it's still off limits for anyone who isn't black.
If that explanation isn't good enough for you, then read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squaw#Controversy [wikipedia.org]
It's considered derogatory by a lot of people. I remember in high school hearing a group of guys talk about how they would "love to fuck that little squaw bitch in history class." Imagine them instead saying "I'd love to fuck that little Asian bitch in history." Asian isn't a derogatory term in and of itsel
Re:Oh noes! (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
They would?
It is already illegal to threaten someone's life.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That's what the Real Life Experience is for. In order to qualify for surgery, according to the standards of care set forth by WPATH, a transsexual needs to live as their perceived sex for at least a year.
Considering the number who de-transition before that year is up, you're not wrong about there being some people who leap on it as a possible out when it isn't the real problem, but there still are a very large number of people for whom it works, and those people really are their perceived gender, regardless
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
1. Somebody who's a male-to-female transsexual is female. Period. Regardless of what they look like. Similarly, a female-to-male transsexual is male.
2. Most of the FtM transsexuals that I know never had a very pronounced adam's apple to begin with.
3. Some genetic females have an adam's apple. In fact, I know some genetic females with larger adam's apples than some of the transsexual females I know.
4. Surgery to get rid of the Adam's Apple has been around for years. Tracheal Shave surgery [wikipedia.org] is done on an outpa
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
That's odd, I Googled "transsexual woman" and got something completely different. I think I'll wear that shoe instead.
Pro tip: women born transsexual usually have two options: 1.) Gender transition. 2.) Suicide. As a culture we need to get over this idea that someone who has the wrong physical sex for their gender goes through gender transition to satisfy some sexual thrill.
It's wrong, completely wrong. There's a mountain of evidence that says that it's just simply factually incorrect. You might as
Re: (Score:2)
Considering that my girlfriend is a lesbian, my ability to breed with her is a non-issue... but no, I can't get her pregnant. If you're wondering, she can't get me pregnant, either. :)
Re: (Score:2)
Bone structure. The female skeleton is quite unlike the male skeleton, and no amount of surgery will hide it.
Re: (Score:2)
Bone structure. The female skeleton is quite unlike the male skeleton, and no amount of surgery will hide it.
I was going to moderate this thread to hell and back, but decided to reply instead since you have a valid point. Please pardon my rant since it's not a direct reply to you, but more a commentary on this thread as a whole.
I'm lucky. Despite my male birth, I have a relatively easy time passing and I even get guys flirting with me. Not all trans women are as lucky as I am in that department.
This issue is why it is critical that transgendered children are identified and diagnosed before puberty. Transsexu
Re: (Score:2)
It's worth pointing out that voice is, by far, the most important factor to your ability to pass, though. I know some transwomen who look absolutely gorgeous, but as soon as they open their mouth the illusion is broken. Similarly, I know some transwomen who are 6' tall, 200lbs of muscle, and who have absolutely no problem passing at all, even without having had any surgeries.
You're right about skeletal structure, and about the damages done by testosterone during puberty, but a person's body language and the
Re: (Score:2)
Cheer up, it's a whole lot better than it used to be. Seventy years ago if you'd been found out you'd have been murdered. And it's getting better all the time.
The "not a woman because you can't have children" is a stupid argument. Does that mean a woman who's had a hysterectomy is no longer a woman?
You mention that you get guys flirting with you, but I'm 100% male inside and out (body and brain), yet gays still hit on me.
Re: (Score:2)
Seventy years ago if you'd been found out you'd have been murdered. And it's getting better all the time.
Yes, and I'm thankful I only lost my family when I let them know. In hindsight, I'm lucky that's all that happened, but my family is a little militia-type "the end times are here" kooky anyway. It's not a big list, but here you go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unlawfully_killed_transgender_people [wikipedia.org]
The flip side is that I'm always flabbergasted when I talk to a transsexual woman who has an ongoing relationship with a family that accepts her, and that seems to happen frequently.
I probably could pat
Re: (Score:2)
In an ideal world, yes, all people would be allowed to choose their gender identity for themselves before puberty. I tried to raise my daughter in a unisex manner, but discovered that it is impossible -- everyone will force expectations on children based on
Re: (Score:2)
Ah makes me think of a certain song:
She walked up to me and she asked me to dance
I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice
She said Lola, L-O-L-A, Lola, L-L-Lola
-KINKS
I guess they could replace the voice too!
Re: (Score:2)
This may shock and amaze you, but in most cases from what I understand, this surgery would not be needed for a male-to-female transsexual to sound female. A masculinized voicebox is, in general, capable of producing a female-sounding voice with practice.
(Anyway, when I use my male voice while dressed as a male, it astounds me that in spite of how obvious my birth sex ought to be, some people still think I'm female like that! Just imagine how easy it'll be for me to "trick" one of you boys once I finally
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Oh noes! (Score:5, Funny)
So is "cracker" or "whitey" or "nerd" or "douche" and yet nobody gets their dick all bent out of shape for those things. Maybe these trannies just need to grow a pair of balls.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
In parting, let me say that this was an (admittedly pathetic) attempt at a joke which has been completely ruined by o
Re: (Score:2)
I would like the courts getting bogged down with deciding if the law Literally means one XY person and one XX person or will any combination adding up to at least 3 X and 1 Y be OK? How about one XXXX woman marrying two XY men? If a transsexual XX identifies as a gay male, can he marry an XY man?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
My point was that the legal system is not set up to arbitrate gender, and as such we shouldn't pass laws that require the legal system to decide whether someone is male or female. The only fair way to handle these corner cases is to no
Re: (Score:2)
The religious right, although well intentioned, are wrong simply because they are misled by their overly simplistic binary (either/or) view of the world.
Re: (Score:2)
The p
Re: (Score:2)
so her voice is different now? (Score:2)
Re:so her voice is different now? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:so her voice is different now? (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3)
That'll be difficult. I hear he dies hard.
That will just make it difficult to close the casket.
Re: (Score:2)
It's even harder than you think, he is Unbreakable.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm curious. How does that work, exactly?
So does that mean lung cancer victims who've had parts of their lungs removed have higher pitched voices? Also, it doesn't seem to properly explain voice changes in puberty, which are enormous in males, and comparably very small in females. And then of course we have singers. Do tenors have lower lung capacity than, say, baritones? I'm not very familiar with singing techniques, but the big name soloists all seem to have really great lung capacity. On the othe
Re: (Score:2)
Donor body?!?! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
If the donor body was able to talk, we would have a much bigger problem to worry about...
All it kept saying was "Brains!" over and over again.
Re: (Score:2)
It probably came from a cadaver.
Why would you assume it came from a living person? Do heart transplants come from a living person? Now that person cant pump blood anymore.. SO cruel !!1!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
There are some people where it should be legal to stop them from talking.
Ebert? (Score:3)
I wonder if Roger Ebert could be helped by something like this.
Re: (Score:2)
Human beings are closer to being an idea (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
We are basically brains attached to a bunch of replaceable parts.
Re: (Score:2)
And the really scary thing is that our brains are a bunch of replaceable parts, too.
(We just haven't figure out how quite yet.)
Re: (Score:2)
Well the question is how much of the brain is really part of "self". Obviously a congresswoman has a bullet pass through her brain and she is still herself but at what point does that change.
Re: (Score:2)
Well the question is how much of the brain is really part of "self". Obviously a congresswoman has a bullet pass through her brain and she is still herself but at what point does that change.
Good question. At the time, some said here [wikipedia.org].
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I know people with artificial hips, knees, and shoulders. I have an artificial focusing lens in my left eye. How does being a cyborg make any of us less human?
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, but not quite so big a leap of faith.
Re: (Score:3)
Turk: So, dude, you don't understand. When I operate, I don't see a person, I see a machine with parts that need to be replaced and circuits that need to be rewired.
J.D.: So you think you're a robot mechanic?
Turk: As a surgeon, the more detached I am, the more focused I am. And it's pretty impossible to feel focused or detached when this guy's family's watching every move I make.
J.D.: Well, I wouldn't worry about that. Mr. Milligan only has a son and Elliot lost him.
Turk: Awesome!... For me.
Dr. Cox: It's ac
Hasta la vista, baby. (Score:2)
My CPU is a neural net processor; a learning computer.
Re: (Score:3)
If every part of anyone's body can be replaced, and even completely transfigured and upgraded for various other better parts, what is a human being?
A captain of the Ship of Theseus [wikimedia.org].
Re: (Score:2)
Morpheus: What is the Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer-generated dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this.
[holds up a Duracell battery]
Neo: No, I don't believe it. It's not possible.
Morpheus: I didn't say it would be easy, Neo. I just said it would be the truth.
-credit IMDB
I had to because no-one else had made the joke. (Moral obligation)
Re: (Score:2)
On a more serious note... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, every time I see one of these articles I forward to my "anti-(western)medicine" friends. You know the ones - they use words like Big Pharma and Quacks all the time, and are convinced the "Man" is keeping various life-saving herbs and natural remedies out of our hands because "there's no money in them".
I wonder which herb or tree bark fixes the physical inability to speak? Which one massively, provably brings down the death rates from breast cancer or leukemia? Which one fixes your busted ass knee o
Re:On a more serious note... (Score:5, Insightful)
My favorite example is the drug Zofran, it is the gold standard in chemo anti-nausea meds (with some arguments to be made for pot, but I'll not get into that.). We're talking the chemo patients who haven't been able to keep any food down for a week, and nothing else worked, unless they had particularly good insurance, Zofran was the last option, and it almost always worked...the reason it was the last choice is that it was sold for a bit over a thousand dollars a dose.
When it came off patent, and the generic manufacturers got started on it, would you care to guess how much they were selling it for?
Go ahead, guess.
Nope, you're wrong, about a dollar fifty a dose.
Now, I can have some sympathy for the argument that they need to recover the R&D costs, but due to what amounts to legal maneuvering, they managed to extend their patent for basically 15 years from FDA Approval to it coming off-patent...Did they really need 15 years of about a 70,000% markup?
That's my favorite example, but it's far from the only one.
Her voice or the donor's? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
I'd imagine it is much like a trumpet and it's mouthpiece. If you put a trumpet mouthpiece on a trombone it's probably more likely going to sound like a weird trombone than a weird trumpet.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
its a good thing but its still creepy (Score:4, Interesting)
when you receive a donor liver, kidney, lung, etc. from a donor, it's invisible. but a donor's voice?
it's just so personal
you open your mouth, and out comes the voice of someone else, who is dead
creepy!
of course its still a wonderful gift, but its just a creepy wonderful gift, that's all i'm saying
Re: (Score:2)
yes, i understand that. you have not negated my point. it's still someone else's voice. someone who knew the dead person will be able to pick it out
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
No they would not. For further evidence RTFA.
Re: (Score:2)
mom! is that you?
Re: (Score:2)
interesting but what about this (Score:2)
Woman's mind restored after linux transplant.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The problem is that they haven't figure out how to keep the body from rejecting these parts without suppressing the immune system which obviously isn't a good thing in the long run. I'd think that is the bigger obstacle right now - more than the technology.
Re: (Score:2)
Cant wait till we are able to exchange info from a synthetic body part to organic nerve endings in order to come up with cybernetic body parts that actually do interface with the body seamlessly
The interface between my left eye's focusing muscles and the CrystaLens is seamless, but it's a mechanical linkage, not electrochemical. I'm waiting to see my cousin get out of the wheelchair he's sat in for the last half century.
Re: (Score:2)
Nice, mod down all my posts because you don't like one of them. Have fun wasting your time asshole, I have lots of karma.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Complaining? After 11 years with only her thoughts to occupy herself, this woman probably rivals the meekest nerd recluse in terms of outgoing personality / speech habits. Lots of time for introspection basically counteracts shallow thought and expression.
OTOH being mute that long might do things to the brain I can't even comprehend. Would be a fun topic to research :).
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah really you should have received no mod points in my opinion up or down. (I for one am one of the rare readers that browses at 1 with 0 "collapsed" so I saw this comment in the first place.) To be honest though I can see where the modding occurred as no discussion about the article actually took place, just your comment about the misunderstanding. Sometimes misunderstandings can be hilarious (or mildly funny). Don't sweat it though...modding here is done "quickly" and I have comments that I "thought
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah I hear that.
I wonder what else we'll get to witness in our lifetimes?
Now there is both a scary and exciting thought.