Breakthrough injection treatment is giving people their voices back
A father who had difficulty speaking, singing or shouting since his childhood received a new treatment; This means he can now read bedtime stories to his son.
David Metherell, a 45-year-old intensive care nurse, was diagnosed with a rare strain of human papillomavirus (HPV) that damaged his vocal cords when he was just nine months old.
By the age of six, he had undergone 21 surgeries, but these damaged his vocal cords and left his voice permanently distorted. He explained that sometimes his voice suddenly stops.
“I could never sing, I could never shout; I was just restricted in so many ways,” he said. he told the BBC.
But he said a new surgery, which involved injecting platelet-rich plasma (PRP) from the patient’s blood into his vocal cords, was “liberating” and life-changing.
The new trial treatment at the ear, nose and throat (ENT) clinic at Guy’s Hospital is already being used by NHS clinics to encourage the healing process for patients with injured knees or tendons, but it has never been used in this way before.
Mr Metherell’s consultant, Shiying Hey, and his team have treated 10 patients so far, and all have reported improvement in their voices. He explained that it is cheaper than other treatments because they can use the patient’s own blood.
After three injections, the treatment gave Mr Metherall the ability to speak in busy social or work situations.
Previous studies have shown that PRP injections work within two years. A study conducted in 2025 published in Sound Magazine Between 2021 and 2023, 109 injections were given to 48 participants with damaged vocal cords.
One month after the last PRP injection, more than 70 percent of participants reported “moderate or significant voice improvement.” When researchers observed their vocal cords, they found improvement in more than two-thirds of the participants.
Other experimental technologies that aid speech use artificial intelligence. The University of Cambridge has created Revoice, a technology that could eliminate the need for invasive brain implants and allow patients to communicate naturally.
Revoice combines sensors and artificial intelligence to complete words and sentences by decoding speech signals and emotional cues in patients.
The device is worn around the neck as a soft, flexible choker that captures the patient’s heart rate and tiny vibrations from the throat muscles. These signals are then converted into words.
In a small trial with five patients with dysarthria, a speech difficulty that can occur after a stroke, the device was accurate on all but 4.2 percent of words and 2.9 percent of sentences.
Current speech-assisting technology can take more time, requiring the patient to enter letters one by one or relying on eye tracking or brain implants.
