Application of magnetic resonance imaging movie to assess articulatory movement

Abstract

To introduce the technique of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) movie and to propose its feasibility for investigating articulatory movement. Five healthy adult females participated in the study. Dynamic changes in oropharyngeal structures were assessed with MRI movie during the articulation of a bilabial consonant. Movements of the velum and tongue at a time resolution of 30 ms were complex at the tip of the tongue and the anterior part of the velum. These movements that were seen with a time resolution of 30 ms could not be interpolated or in any way derived from the results obtained with a time resolution of 120 ms. The results suggest that MRI movie may be useful in the evaluation of articulation. It is important to reduce the time resolution to 30 ms to obtain images of articulators.