Making figure models of speech articulators for speech production research

Abstract

Physical 3D figure models of speech articulators including tongue, lips, upper and lower jaws with teeth, were made with regin and gel materials, for research and educational purposes of speech production mechanisms. Regin models were made using a 3D printer and gel models were made with hand crafted cray and a molding method. The models focuses on physiological organs and muscles inside a mouth to understand coordinated speech articulator motions driven by multiple muscles of musculoskeletal systems. For upper and lower jaws, and a hyoid bone, 3D models are designed using computer graphics software and transferred to a 3D printer to make regin models. For tongue and tissues inside mouth, cray was used to make handcrafted original model and molding was done using viscoelastic urethane gels to be duplicated. Intrinsic and extrinsic tongue muscles were modeled as one figure model, but some extrinsic muscles connected outside a tongue body were modeled individually. The models are used to teach speech production mechanisms in a university class. By using physical models, they are contributed to understand complex speech articulation mechanisms inside a mouth, more intuitively and easily.