Ben Watson is a self-described “social” guy who delights in telling stories about his years working as a musician and video engineer on TV, film and concerts around the country.

So it hit hard in 2022 when he faced surgery to remove a cancerous mass on his vocal cords — and loss of his voice.

“I felt like I’d been given all these things,” said Watson, “and they were being taken away.”

Unsatisfied by communicating with a text-to-voice system on his phone and decades-old technology that made his speech sound buzzy and robotic, he began thinking about how he could use a 3D printer to fabricate a mechanical voice box he’d heard singers use in their music. But he didn’t have to.

The 63-year-old Baltimore man became one of several patients at Greater Baltimore Medical Center in Towson fitted with a new device that is letting him speak more normally. He’s also among those giving the device maker feedback on the next version, one that will incorporate artificial intelligence to mimic or even incorporate someone’s real voice.

The device Watson is using now is called AVA Voice, created by the start-up Laronix, based in Australia and New York, that aims to fill what it views as a neglected niche. Thousands of people lose their voices every year to disease or severe injury, which company researchers saw as emotionally devastating and practically challenging.

They thought there weren’t great choices if you permanently lose your voice box, called your larynx, which is the air passage from the lungs that holds vocal cords and allows you to make the sounds coming out of your mouth.

There are apps like the one Watson used at first, but you need to type out every thought.

There is another battery operated-device Watson tried, called an electrolarynx, which users hold to their necks to create the vibrating sound. And the most modern option is a voice prosthesis, an implanted valve that speech experts say has been an advancement but requires regular cleaning and replacing every few months.

Creators of AVA Voice say they already are working to improve their device, as it relies on an external mechanism and the voice can take some getting used to.

It uses a thin tube that runs from the neck valve, which those without a larynx use to breathe, into their mouths, like a flexible straw. About midway the air runs through a small round membrane the person can use to adjust the vibrations, and thus the tone of their voice, as words are formed by their face muscles and lips.

Each patient at GBMC who tried the AVA Voice in recent months was able to form words quickly, and all but those whose cancer recurred or had some other physical challenge continue to use the device, according to Ana Minisci, a senior speech-language pathologist at GBMC’s Milton J. Dance, Jr. Head and Neck Center.

She had read about the device and contacted Larinix, which provided devices on a trial basis.

“This allows patients to think something and say something versus having to type it out,” she said. “And people like the way it sounds better than other devices. It’s a lot more natural.”

That includes “hmm,” “uhh,” and even laughter.

That natural speech is the goal, said Mousa Ahmadi, co-founder and chief operating officer of Laronix.

The device doesn’t need the time-consuming and costly human trials that drugs and implantable devices require. Ahmadi said he expects AVA Voice to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a noninvasive device, the equivalent of an elastic bandage, early next year. The company plans to sell it for $82 a month; an out-of-pocket cost for patients, at least initially.

Another version of the device already in the works would incorporate AI to make language even more suited to individuals, some who could bank spoken words and phrases in their actual voices prior to larynx surgeries.

Ahmadi said the company is in regular contact with AVA Voice users at several medical programs around the country. That includes Watson, who already feels like his luck has changed.

“When I woke up from surgery I didn’t expect to see a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.

After a referral to the GBMC program, he said, “They put me on it and I just started talking. I realized I could go back to work.”

And after about an hour or so of chatting and telling stories during an interview, he added with a smile, “Now I’m just rambling.”