Atos Medical PROVOX FreeHands HME Anwendungshinweise Seite 12

plied to the skin. Skin-Prep
used to enhance the seal of the Adhesive base plate.
[picture C6]
Turn the valve "ON" to the "speaking position" (clock-
wise, if the patient is sitting opposite you), [picture
C7].
After a short time of adaptation and maybe some
attempts, starting with low pressure, the patient should
be able to speak "hands-free" without too much effort,
[picture C8]. If this is achieved, proceed to step 6.
The valve originally comes with the medium (blue
dot) membrane in place, to allow in many cases for
immediate use without further adaptation.
If this fails, consider the following possibilities:
A) The valve closes too late, too briefly or not prop-
erly, allowing air to leak along the valve. The voice is
weak and speaking is possible only for a very short
time and much effort: Go to step 5 and chose a valve
membrane with higher flexibility, which is easier to
close (light or medium, respectively).
B) The valve closes too easily, e.g., it sometimes
closes as a result of deep breathing. Go to step 5 and
chose a valve membrane with lower flexibility (strong
or medium, respectively).
C) The cough-relief valve opens during speech as
might happen with patients used to other, conventional
valve systems. Go to step 6, adjust the cough-relief
valve, and repeat step 4.
If the membrane has to be replaced, use only the plastic
forceps provided with the device for manipulation, in
order to avoid damaging the membrane. [picture C9
and C10]
Lift the cough-relief valve (lid) with your fingers and
hold it open. [picture C11]
Grasp the membrane next to the fixation point and
pull it out. [picture C12]
Hold the cough-relief valve open and insert the new
membrane by grasping it next to the fixation point and
pushing it in. [picture C13]
STEP.6.–.ADJUSTING.THE.COUGH-RELIEF.VALVE
Once the speech valve membrane has been chosen,
the patient should be asked to cough with increasing
force. The valve should open as soon as the pressure
increases to a level of discomfort during the cough.
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C LI NI C IA NS
STEP.4.–.SELECTION.OF.
THE.SPEECH.VALVE.MEMBRANE
STEP.5.–.REPLACEMENT.OF.
THE.SPEECH.VALVE.MEMBRANE
and silicone glue can be
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