Tongue Speed Research Articles

Objective Improvement After Frenotomy for Posterior Tongue-Tie: A Prospective Randomized Trial.

Infants with posterior tongue-tie (PTT) can have substantial difficulty with breastfeeding and bottle-feeding. This study aimed to address the dearth in investigational objective data surrounding PTT release to better quantify the postoperative impacts of frenotomy for ankyloglossia. Prospective randomized, controlled trial. Private practice clinic. In a prospective, randomized controlled trial, infants 3 to 16 weeks of age with PTT undergoing frenotomy were examined using a bottle-feeding system capable of objectively measuring tongue function. Validated patient-reported outcome measures were also obtained simultaneously. Forty-seven infants with PTT were enrolled into an observational/control arm (n = 23) or interventional/surgical treatment arm (n = 24). The total cohort consisted of 29 (61.7%) male infants with a median age of 39 days. At the day 10 time point, the interventional arm demonstrated statistically significant improvement in 11 objectively obtained feeding metrics, indicating faster tongue speed, more rhythmic and coordinated sucking motions, and a tongue more capable of adapting to varying feeding demands. Significant improvement in breastfeeding self-efficacy was reported in the interventional group while poor self-confidence persisted in the observational group. Infant reflux symptoms improved in the interventional group while not in the control group. Nipple pain also persisted in the control group but improved in the surgical cohort. When measured 10 days after frenotomy for PTT, infants improve feeding parameters using an objective bottle-feeding system. Similar improvements are seen with patient-reported outcomes when PTT is released. Posterior tongue-tie is a valid clinical concern, and surgical release can improve infant and maternal symptoms.

Feeding behavior of honey bees on dry sugar

The feeding habits of insects can be influenced by food abundance, nutrition, physical forces, and many other variables, which is why this topic is multidisciplinary and perennially fascinating. Although honey bees primarily feed on liquid nectar, they also can feed on dry sugar; however, the feeding mechanism for feeding on dry substances by a primarily fluid-feeding insect remains unexplored. We observed that, when honey bees are accessible to both dry sugar and liquid nectar, they prefer to feed on the latter. To elucidate the diet preference, we conducted a comparative study between feeding on dry-sugar and drawing up liquid-nectar, from the tongue kinematics and dynamic configuration, friction force, glossal durability, and feeding efficiency. Using a high-speed camera, we discovered that the hairy tongue of the honey bee uses back-and-forth movements to furrow a groove on pieces of dry sugar, with saliva simultaneously dissolving the sugar. We found that the lapping frequency of the tongue on dry sugar reduces from 4.5 Hz to 1.6 Hz when compared to feeding on the liquid diet; a 64% decrease in average tongue speed. Through tribological tests, we revealed that the friction forces when feeding on dry sugar is approximately 5 times that of dipping nectar, and the glossal hairs wear 4 times faster when feeding on dry sugar compared to the sucrose solution. We built a mathematical model to bridge the gap between energy intake rate and tongue dynamics of these two feeding modes. The theoretical net energy intake rate of feeding on dry sugar is 50% lower than when feeding on sucrose solutions. Both experimental and theoretical discoveries revealed that although honey bees can feed on dry substances, natural selection has forged their tongue structures primarily for a liquid diet. This study combined behavioral and mechanical tests with mathematical modeling, which highlights the advantages of using multidisciplinary approaches for uncovering the feeding physiology of insects.

An exploratory model of speech intelligibility for healthy aging based on phonatory and articulatory measures

PurposeThe aims of the current study were to determine age-related changes to the phonatory and articulatory subsystems and to investigate an exploratory model of intelligibility for healthy aging based on phonatory and articulatory measures. MethodFifteen healthy, older adults (55–81 years) and 15 younger adults (20–35 years) participated in instrumental assessments of the phonatory (aerodynamic, acoustic) and articulatory (kinematic) subsystems. Speech intelligibility was determined by five listeners during multi-talker babble. ResultsOlder adults displayed shorter maximum phonation time, greater airflow during sentence reading, and lower cepstral peak prominence (CPP) and CPP SD. Additionally, older adults had slower tongue movement speed than younger adults. Speech intelligibility was also significantly reduced in the older group. A generalized estimating equations model combining phonatory and articulatory measures showed that CPP SD, low/high (L/H) spectral ratio mean and SD, Cepstral Spectral Index of Dysphonia (CSID), and maximum tongue movement speed were significant contributors to intelligibility changes in older individuals. While L/H mean and SD and CSID displayed an inverse relationship with intelligibility, CPP SD and maximum tongue speed displayed a direct relationship with intelligibility. DiscussionAging affects the phonatory and articulatory subsystems with implications for speech intelligibility. Phonatory cepstral/spectral measures (except mean CPP) were associated with speech intelligibility changes, suggesting that changes in voice quality may contribute to reduced intelligibility in older adults. Pertaining to articulation, slower tongue movement speed likely contributed to reduced intelligibility in older individuals.

Biomechanical Biomarkers of Tongue Impairment During Swallowing in Persons Diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

The impact of tongue dysfunction on deglutition in persons diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is not well understood. This information is needed to improve our understanding of the mechanisms of swallowing impairment, for identifying risk factors of dysphagia, and for establishing impairment-specific treatments aimed at slowing the loss of swallow function. The goals of this study were to determine the relation between biomechanical measures of oral tongue movements using electromagnetic articulography (EMA) and measures of swallow physiology, swallow safety and efficiency, and self-reported swallowing function. Participants were diagnosed with ALS by a neurologist following the El Escorial Criteria from the World Federation of Neurology. Twelve participants underwent (1) EMA to derive biomechanical measures of the tongue, (2) videofluoroscopic evaluation to measure swallow physiology, safety, and efficiency, and (3) maximal tongue strength testing using the Iowa Oral Pressure Instrument (IOPI). Participants completed self-reported functional assessments. Spearman's rank correlations assessed for associations between lingual biomechanics and swallowing physiology, swallow safety and efficiency, and self-reported bulbar function. Results demonstrated strong associations between biomechanical and swallowing physiology, swallow safety, and self-reported measures. Notably, swallowing safety during thin liquid intake was associated with tongue speed (r = - 0.7, p < 0.05) and range of motion (r = - 0.71, p < 0.05), and swallowing safety during puree intake was associated with tongue strength (r = - 0.69, p < 0.05). Our findings underscore the importance of tongue movements on swallowing physiology and safety, help improve our understanding of mechanisms of swallowing impairment, and highlight a potential clinical tool to index bulbar impairment.

A simplified vocal tract model for articulation of [s]: The effect of tongue tip elevation on [s

Fricative consonants are known to be pronounced by controlling turbulent flow inside a vocal tract. In this study, a simplified vocal tract model was proposed to investigate the characteristics of flow and sound during production of the fricative [s] in a word context. By controlling the inlet flow rate and tongue speed, the acoustic characteristics of [s] were reproduced by the model. The measurements with a microphone and a hot-wire anemometer showed that the flow velocity at the teeth gap and far-field sound pressure started oscillating before the tongue reached the /s/ position, and continued during tongue descent. This behaviour was not affected by the changes of the tongue speed. These results indicate that there is a time shift between source generation and tongue movement. This time shift can be a physical constraint in the articulation of words which include /s/. With the proposed model, we could investigate the effects of tongue speed on the flow and sound generation in a parametric way. The proposed methodology is applicable for other phonemes to further explore the aeroacoustics of phonation.

Articulatory-Acoustic Analyses of Mandarin Words in Emotional Context Speech for Smart Campus

Recent years, along with the promotion of smart campus, social networks developed rapidly which demands high accuracy of man-man & man-machine interaction technologies. Thus, physiological information in speech interactive processing has become an important complement or even replaced acoustic-based features. With the aim of assessing the influence of emotions on articulatory-acoustic features in speech production, the current study explored the articulatory mechanism that underlying emotional speech production of Mandarin words. We first used the AG501 EMA device to collect articulatory and acoustic data synchronously as subjects were speaking specific words in Mandarin with different emotions, e.g., anger, sadness, happiness, and neutral; articulatory and acoustic features then were extracted from the collected data and analyzed in a one-way ANOVA to discover the significance of emotions on articulatory and acoustic features. The results illustrated that the motion of articulators (tongue and lip) were influenced by emotions significantly; in detail, the motion range of tongue and lip with anger were larger than other emotions, meanwhile, tongue speed and lip speed with anger and happiness were more sensitive than with sadness and neutral in emotional words. Results had been discussed to discover the relationship between acoustic and articulatory features of emotional speech, and then the conclusion can be acquired that articulatory motion feature (tongue and lip) may be the major feature of emotional speech recognition, so that which can be applied to the man-machine interaction of smart campus research in the future.

An ultrasonographic study of lingual contortion speech

The present study evaluated global aspects of lingual movement and acoustics of speech with a contorted tongue. A male participant read four sentences from the Grandfather passage in a normal and three lingual contortion conditions. In the posterior contortion condition, the participant retracted his posterior tongue into the pharynx. In the anterior and posterior contortion conditions, this was combined with an anchoring of the tongue tip in the anterior floor of mouth. In the lateral contortion condition, the left side of the tongue was held along the lateral floor of mouth. Tongue movement in the midsagittal and the coronal planes was recorded with ultrasound, with parallel acoustic recordings. Analysis of average tongue speed in the midsagittal plane demonstrated different speed profiles for the contortion conditions. A principal component analysis yielded a protrusion/retraction and a dorsal height control component. In the lateral contortion condition, an additional component emerged. The analysis of the midsagittal groove from the coronal ultrasound demonstrated increased grooving in the posterior and the combined anterior and posterior contortion conditions. The lateral contortion led to an increase of convexity of the coronal tongue. The long-term average spectra demonstrated anti-resonances related to pharyngeal widening in the posterior and the combined anterior and posterior contortion conditions, as well as a decrease of high frequency components in all contortion conditions. The study offers first insights into tongue movement under different contortion conditions. Lingual contortion could serve as a paradigm for research about the plasticity of lingual movement in speech.

Spatiotemporal Coupling of the Tongue in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

The primary aim of the investigation was to identify deficits in spatiotemporal coupling between tongue regions in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The relations between disease-related changes in tongue movement patterns and speech intelligibility were also determined. Methods The authors recorded word productions from 11 individuals with ALS with mild, moderate, and severe dysarthria using an x-ray microbeam during word productions. A coupling index based on sliding window covariance was used to determine disease-related changes in the coupling between the tongue regions across each word. The results indicated decreased spatiotemporal coupling of mid-posterior tongue regions and reduced tongue speed in the ALS-moderate subgroup. Changes in the range of tongue coupling relations and speed of movement were highly correlated with speech intelligibility. These results provide new insights into the loss of lingual motor control due to ALS and suggest that measures of tongue performance may provide useful indicators of bulbar disease severity and progression.

Dual-task motor performance with a tongue-operated assistive technology compared with hand operations

BackgroundTo provide an alternative motor modality for control, navigation, and communication in individuals suffering from impairment or disability in hand functions, a Tongue Drive System (TDS) has been developed that allows for real time tracking of tongue motion in an unobtrusive, wireless, and wearable device that utilizes the magnetic field generated by a miniature disk shaped magnetic tracer attached to the tip of the tongue. The purpose of the study was to compare the influence of a concurrent motor or cognitive task on various aspects of simple movement control between hand and tongue using the TDS technology.MethodsThirteen young able-bodied adults performed rapid and slow goal-directed movements of hand and tongue (with TDS) with and without a concurrent motor (hand or tongue) or cognitive (arithmetic and memory) task. Changes in reaction time, completion time, speed, correctness, accuracy, variability of displacement, and variability of time due to the addition of a concurrent task were compared between hand and tongue.ResultsThe influence of an additional concurrent task on motor performance was similar between the hand and tongue for slow movement in controlling their displacement. In rapid movement with a concurrent motor task, most aspects of motor performance were degraded in hand, while tongue speed during rapid continuous task was maintained. With a concurrent cognitive task, most aspects of motor performance were degraded in tongue, while hand accuracy during the rapid discrete task and hand speed during the rapid continuous task were maintained.ConclusionRapid goal-directed hand and tongue movements were more consistently susceptible to interference from concurrent motor and cognitive tasks, respectively, compared with the other movement.

Comparison of tongue functions between mature and tongue-thrust swallowing—an ultrasound investigation

Many studies have proved that tongue thrusting plays a significant role in the etiology of some orofacial deformities. To learn more about the relationship between tongue function and the form of orofacial structures, it is important to recognize patients with abnormal swallowing patterns. A cushion scanning technique in combination with M-mode ultrasound was applied to measure and compare tongue movements between mature swallowing and tongue-thrust swallowing. Forty subjects with a mature swallowing pattern (23 female, 17 male, aged 21.8 ± 6.1 years) and 15 subjects with a tongue-thrust swallowing pattern (8 female, 7 male, aged 13.6 ± 6.6 years) were included in this study. Duration, range, speed, and reproducibility for each of the swallowing subphases were calculated and compared. Tongue-thrust swallowers had a longer late transport phase than mature swallowers ( P < .0009), and the tongue speed was faster in the early final phase ( P < .05) compared with mature swallowers. Distinctly different movements can be positively differentiated with the method used.

Orofacial movements associated with fluent speech in persons who stutter.

This study was intended to replicate and extend previous findings that (a) during fluent speech persons who stutter (PS) and those who do not (NS) differ in their vocal tract closing movements (L. Max, A. J. Caruso, and V. L. Gracco, 2003) and (b) ratios relating lip and tongue speed to jaw speed increase with stuttering severity (M. D. McClean and C. R. Runyan, 2000). An electromagnetic system was used to record movements of the upper lip, lower lip, tongue, and jaw of 43 NS and 37 PS during productions of a nonsense phrase and a sentence. Measurement and analysis of movement speeds, durations, and ratios of lip and tongue speed to jaw speed were performed on fluent productions of a nonsense phrase and sentence. Statistical comparisons were made between PS with low and high stuttering severity levels (LPS and HPS) and NS. Significant variations across groups in movement speed and duration were observed, but the pattern of these effects was complex and did not replicate the results of the two earlier studies. In the nonsense phrase, significant reductions in lower lip closing duration, jaw closing duration, and jaw closing speed were seen in PS. In the sentence task, HPS showed elevated tongue opening and closing durations. For tongue opening in the sentence, LPS showed elevated speeds and HPS showed reduced speeds. The elevated speeds for LPS are interpreted as a contributing factor to speech disfluency, whereas the reduced speeds and increased durations in HPS are attributed to adaptive behavior intended to facilitate fluent speech. Significant group effects were not seen for the speed ratio measures. Results are discussed in relation to multivariate analyses intended to identify subgroups of PS.

Variations in the relative speeds of orofacial structures with stuttering severity.

Stuttering can be characterized in part as a disorder in the coordination of different muscle systems. In light of basic aspects of orofacial physiology and development, the speeds of the lips and tongue relative to the jaw may be an important dimension for evaluating motor coordination among persons who stutter (PWS). To test this idea, an electromagnetic system was used to obtain measures of lip, tongue, and jaw speed in 38 adults (29 PWS and 9 normally fluent speakers, NFS) as they repeated a simple speech utterance at a normal rate. Using categorical ratings of stuttering severity, ratios of tongue speed to jaw speed were significantly greater in PWS rated as severe, compared to NFS and other PWS. Significant increases in lower lip-to-jaw and tongue-to-jaw speed ratios with stuttering severity were also reflected in correlation analyses relating speed ratios to a continuous measure of stuttering severity. These trends in speed ratio were related to increases in lower lip and tongue speed and decreases in jaw speed with stuttering severity. Sources of the speed differences are discussed in relation to underlying muscle activity, motor compensation processes in adults, and the development of orofacial motor control in children who stutter.

Kinematic analysis of tongue movements in dysarthria following traumatic brain injury using electromagnetic articulography

Electromagnetic articulography (EMA), a technique that uses alternating magnetic fields to track the movement of miniature receiver coils affixed to the articulators, was used to assess the speed and accuracy of tongue movements exhibited by an individual with dysarthria following severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Three receiver coils were attached to the TBI subject's tongue and the movements of these coils were recorded during five productions of three single syllable real words consisting of the lingual consonants /t, s, k/ in the word-initial position. A non-neurologically impaired adult male served as a control subject. A range of kinematic parameters was analysed from the consonant productions including the movement trajectories, velocity, acceleration, distance, and duration of tongue movements. Examination of the complex interactions between the kinematic parameters recorded for the TBI subject revealed a disturbance in the 'control' of tongue speed rather than a disturbance in speed per se, as it was found that the TBI subject exhibited difficulty in decelerating his tongue movements appropriately on the approach up to the palate during consonant production. The difficulty noted in deceleration resulted in inaccurate tongue movements that overshot the point of intent (in the case of /t/) and may have been instrumental in reducing the length of time that the tongue remained at the palate (in the case of /s/ and /k/) in comparison to the control subject. The disturbances identified in the kinematic parameters recorded provided objective insights into the nature of the articulatory disturbances responsible for the deviant speech feature, consonant imprecision, perceived in the TBI subject's speech. The study stresses the importance of examining a range of kinematic parameters and the interactions between these parameters in attempting to determine the nature of articulatory disturbances exhibited by individuals with dysarthria following TBI.