Relationship of Lingual and Intraoral Air Pressure during Consonant Production

Abstract

Variations of intraoral air pressure associated with the production of different consonants may be due to resistance created by the tongue to respiratory air flow. One indicator of tongue resistance is the pressure it exerts against other oral structures during speech. The purpose of this study was to obtain simultaneous recordings of lingual pressure and air pressure to aid in determining if a relationship does exist between these two intraoral pressures. Nine young adult males repeated syllables containing /t/, /d/, and /n/ consonants placed in the initial, medial, and final syllabic position. Measurement of these recordings showed greatest air-pressure values for /t/, less for /d/, and least for /n/. Lingual pressure values did not follow the same systematic trend; greatest pressure values were found for /t/, but no difference was found between /d/ and /n/. These results suggest that—whereas varying tongue pressures may account, in part, for variations in air pressure—other physiological systems such as respiratory, laryngeal, and velopharyngeal activity also interact to account for varying air pressures.