One of the goals of the research group is to ascertain whether patients can compensate for changes in voice and speech, and if yes, in what way? The ACLC plays a pivotal role in the linguistic side of the rehabilitation process. With the help of speech technology, our aim is to get a more comprehensive insight into the possible consequences an operation might have on a patient, so that we are able to provide better counseling about the various treatment options that are available.' Linking the fields of humanities and medicine One of Van den Brekel's research fields is oncology related voice and speech disorders, which is a subject area in which the Faculty of Humanities provides unique expertise. Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common type of cancer in the Netherlands, with approximately 3000 patients treated for this disease annually. Van den Brekel: "Many patients with a tumor in their larynx and throat end up with impairments in speech and have difficulty swallowing partly as a result of the treatment. The research into these impairments can be done from both a medical and academic perspective.' To illustrate the unique role that the humanities can play in oncology, Van den Brekel mentions a research project currently being carried out by one of the Faculty's PhD candidates, whereby speech technology is used for exploring a patient's comprehensibility and quality of voice after oncological treatment. As yet, patients suffering from voice and speech impairment after an operation usually visit a speech therapist, who then gives them exercises to do. In most cases both speech therapist and patient usually believe they're able to detect improvements after a few months of exercise, which is by no means an objective assumption. In this sense speech therapy is still a relatively young science. It would therefore be advantageous to use voice recognition software that automatically measures such things as speech quality, comprehension and all sorts of aspects surrounding articulation. In using such a device, both patient and speech therapist would be better informed about the current stage of rehabilitation and what still needs to be done.