Veteran actress-singer Julie Andrews, who lost her famous vocal range in a botched operation in 1997, is hoping to sing again with the help of a new throat treatment.

The Oscar-award-winning actress, known for her roles in musicals like 'Camelot', 'Mary Poppins' and 'Sound Of Music', could sing in four octaves.

But the actress's voice suffered badly when she underwent surgery to remove non-cancerous nodules from her throat.

But the operation left unable to sing again making the actress file a medical malpractice lawsuit against doctors at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital. The case was settled out of court in 2000, Contactmusic reported.

The 74-year-old's voice coach, Dr Steven Zeitels, has been collaborating with chemical engineer Professor Robert Langer, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in a bid to find a cure.

Langer has made a breakthrough and hopes that a man-made gel injection into Andrews vocal cords will restore their elasticity. He expects the treatment to be made available in two years.

"So far the animal trials have been promising. It appears safe in animals. We hope we can start a clinical trial
on this gel in a year or two. I don't want to promise we'll do
it on Julie Andrews but she has been a big proponent of it,"
Langer said.