Reprints and permission:

No sponsorships or competing interests have been disclosed for this article. Objective. To investigate voice-related quality of life in an effort to index self-assessed voice disability in speakers who use the electrolarynx and to determine the per-ceived level of influence of the electrolarynx on vocal communication. Study Design. Prospective study. Setting. This study was conducted at a tertiary care facility. Subjects and Methods. Forty laryngectomized adults (25 men, 15 women) who used the electrolarynx as a primary method of communication served as participants. The Voice-Related Quality of Life measure was administered and scored in standard fashion and descriptive data generated for physical, social-emotional, and total scores. Results. Data indicate substantial variability in self-perceived quality of life specific to voice use; a wide range of physical, social-emotional, and total scores were observed. Only one-quarter of these participants rated themselves as having ‘‘poor/fair’ ’ voice-related quality of life. Conclusion. Our findings suggest that use of the electrolarynx as a postlaryngectomy method of verbal communication has a wide-ranging influence on self-perceived voice-related quality of life and that mean scores from prior studies may not accurately reflect the potential value of the electrolar-ynx. Communication disability related to electrolarynx use does in fact vary; however, it is not uniformly poor, and some may be highly proficient users. Consequently, the Voice-Related Quality of Life measure may also serve as a useful tool for clinical documentation of rehabilitation out-comes in those who use the electrolarynx as a postlaryn-gectomy method of speech