Production of tongue twisters by speakers with partial glossectomy

Bressmann T, Foltz A, Zimmermann J, Irish JC. Production of tongue twisters by speakers with partial glossectomy. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics. 2014;28(12):951-964.A partial glossectomy can affect speech production. The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of the presence of a tumour as well as the glossectomy surgery on the patients' production of tongue twisters with the sounds [t] and [k]. Fifteen patients with tongue cancer and 10 healthy controls took part in the study. The outcome measures were the patients' speech acceptability, rate of errors, the time needed to produce the tongue twisters, pause duration between item repetitions and the tongue shape during the production of the consonants [t] and [k] before and after surgery. The patients' speech acceptability deteriorated after the surgery. Compared to controls, the patients' productions of the tongue twisters were slower but not more errorful. Following the surgery, their speed of production did not change, but the rate of errors was higher. Pause duration between items was longer in the patients than in the controls but did not increase from before to after surgery. Analysis of the patients' tongue shapes for the productions of [t] and [k] indicated a higher elevation following the surgery for the patients with flap reconstructions. The results demonstrated that the surgical resection of the tongue changed the error rate but not the speed of production for the patient. The differences in pause duration also indicate that the tumour and the surgical resection of the tongue may impact the phonological planning of the tongue twister

Self-Inflicted Cosmetic Tongue Split: A Case Report

C osmetic "body modifications" include piercing of the tongue, lips, face and genitals; deliberate scarring; "branding" with hot irons; the subcutaneous implantation of studs; and the tongue split. The body artists who perform these operations are medically untrained. Both they and their clients regard body modifications as not very invasive or dangerous. However, there is increasing evidence in the literature that tongue and lip piercings may lead to tooth fractures, 1,2 gingival recession, 3,4 severe wound inflammation, 5,6 allergic reactions, 7 brain abcesses 8 and endocarditis. 9,10 The cosmetic tongue split operation is a relatively recent fashion trend. In this procedure, the anterior tongue blade is cut apart along the midline and cauterized to prevent reattachment of the separated sides. So far, functional consequences of this operation have only been addressed in one previous publication: Benecke 11 describes the case of a young woman who underwent a tongue split procedure along with a number of other body modifications. The author comments that speech and swallowing were unaffected by the procedure, but this is only an impressionistic assessment. As body modifications seem to become only more fashionable and popular, it is important to gain knowledge about possible adverse effects of tongue split operations on speech and tongue movement. In particular, dentists, oral surgeons and speech-language pathologists need to know if there is a new group of clients in the making. The purpose of this case study was to obtain firsthand information about the functional consequences of a cosmetic tongue split operation for speech and tongue motility. Case Presentation The participant was a 33-year-old man who works as a self-employed body artist and specializes in facial and genital piercing, scarring, branding and jewellery implantation, but has no formal medical training. The patient reported no previous history of speech, language or hearing disorders. He had performed the tongue split procedure on himself 2 years previous to the interview in his home during a social get-together. The operation had been performed under a light topical anesthetic with a surgical scalpel. He had cut his tongue blade along the lingual midline and cauterized the wound with a red-hot steel bead. The participant reported that the wound healing and swelling had been uncomplicated. On extreme tongue protrusion and lateralization, he occasionally experienced shooting pains in the left side of the tongue, due to an irritation of the lingual nerve. He had only noted speech problems during the acute healing phase. Following the tongue split, the participant observed contraction and stiffening of the scars and had tried to counteract this by stretching exercises. Despite these efforts, he estimated that the tongue blade was now about 7 mm shorter in length than before the operation. Self-Inflicted Cosmetic Tongue Split: A Case Report • Tim Bressmann, PhD • A b s t r a c t © J Can Dent Assoc 2004; 70(3):156-7 This article has been peer reviewed

Effects of different calibration schedules on the test-retest differences of nasalance scores obtained with the nasometer 6450

Nasometry is used to assess nasality in speech but it is unclear whether overly frequent recalibration of the instrument adds measurement errors. The goal of the present research study was to describe the effect of the Nasometer 6450 calibration on the nasalance scores of repeated recordings. In a first experiment, the Nasometer calibration values stored in the computer's registry were manipulated to investigate the impact on nasalance scores. In the second experiment, a set of pre-recorded speech samples was re-recorded 40 times with a Nasometer 6450 in 4 different calibration regimens: Short-term repeated recordings without (R1) and with recalibration (R2C), and long-term repeated recordings over 10 days without (R3) and with recalibration (R4C). The first experiment showed that, compared to a calibration value of 1.0, a value of 0.9 resulted in nasalance scores that were on average 3 points lower while a calibration value of 1.1 resulted in scores that were 0.5 points higher. The results of the second experiment showed test-retest differences of less than 2 nasalance points for 91% of the data for a non-nasal stimulus. For a nasal stimulus, 91% of data were within 5 points for R3 and R4C. The results suggested that frequent recalibration of the Nasometer may slightly increase test-retest differences of nasalance scores. An alternative procedure for verifying microphone balance without recalibration is suggested

Comparison of nasalance scores obtained with the Nasometers 6200 and 6450

The study had the goal of comparing the new Nasometer 6450 to the older model 6200 using synthetic test sounds and control participants. A particular focus of the investigation was on the test-retest variability of the instruments. The Nasometers 6200 and 6450 were compared using square wave test sounds. Six repeated measurements of oral, balanced, and nasal test stimuli were recorded from 25 female participants over an average of 35 days. The synthetic test sounds demonstrated that the two nasometers obtained similar results for a range of frequencies. The results for the clinically normal participants revealed that nasalance scores from the two instruments were within 1–2 points, depending on the test sentence. Variability in scores increased with the proportion of nasal consonants in the sentence. Test-retest variability was between 6 and 8 points for more than 90% of the participants. Participants with higher nasalance scores for oral stimuli had higher between-session variability. Conclusions: The Nasometers 6200 and 6450 should yield comparable results in clinical practice. Depending on the phonetic content of the test materials, clinicians should allow for a 6- to 8-point between-session variability when interpreting nasalance scores.This research was supported by an Operating Grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (grant fund number 485680)

Application of linear discriminant analysis to the nasometric assessment of resonance disorders: A pilot study

Objective: Nasalance scores have traditionally been used to assess hypernasality. However, resonance disorders are often complex, and hypernasality and nasal obstruction may co-occur in patients with cleft palate. In this study, normal speakers simulated different resonance disorders, and linear discriminant analysis was used to create a tentative diagnostic formula based on nasalance scores for nonnasal and nasal speech stimuli. Materials and Methods: Eleven female participants were recorded with the Nasometer 6450 while reading nonnasal and nasal speech stimuli. Nasalance measurements were taken of their normal resonance and their simulations of hyponasal, hypernasal, and mixed resonance. Results: A repeated-measures analysis of variance revealed a resonance condition'stimuli interaction effect (P , .001). A linear discriminant analysis of the participants' nasalance scores led to formulas correctly classifying 64.4% of the resonance conditions. When the hyponasal and mixed resonance conditions with obstruction of the less patent nostril were removed from the analysis, the resultant formulas correctly classified 88.6% of the resonance conditions. Conclusion: The simulations produced distinctive nasalance scores, enabling the creation of formulas that predicted resonance condition above chance level. The preliminary results demonstrate the potential of this approach for the diagnosis of resonance disorders.485680; CIHR; Canadian Institutes of Health Researc

The tongue - not essential for the production of tongue twisters?

Zimmermann J, Bressmann T, Foltz A, Irish J. The tongue - not essential for the production of tongue twisters? In: Talk given at the ICPLA Conference 2012, Cork, Ireland. 2012

Evaluation of a modular palatal lift prosthesis with a silicone velar lamina for hypernasal patients

Statement of problem. Speech bulbs and palatal lift prostheses are used to improve oral-nasal balance in speakers with hypernasality resulting from velopharyngeal dysfunction. Fabricating such speech prostheses is often a protracted process, and the nasopharyngeal impression can be uncomfortable for the client. Purpose. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a modular palatal lift prosthesis with a silicone velar lamina that can be fabricated without a nasopharyngeal impression. Material and methods. Six adult participants with different etiologies were treated with both a conventional palatal lift prosthesis and the new prosthesis. The outcome measures were nasalance scores, speech acceptability ratings, and participant responses on a questionnaire. Inferential statistical analyses were conducted with nonparametric Friedman tests and 2-tailed paired Wilcoxon signed ranks tests. The probability was set at P<.1. Results. Among the 3 speaking conditions (no prosthesis, acrylic resin prosthesis, modular silicone palatal lift prosthesis), no differences were found in nasalance scores for the oral stimuli. For the nasal sentences, a numerically greater reduction was observed for the silicone than for the acrylic resin prosthesis. Speech acceptability was better with the modular silicone palatal lift prosthesis (z=2.032, P<.05) and the acrylic resin prosthesis (z=1.753, P<.1) than with no prosthesis. The questionnaire showed better subjective speech acceptability with the acrylic resin prosthesis (z=1.706, P<.05) and the modular silicone palatal lift prosthesis (z=1.706, P<.05) than with no prosthesis. Swallowing comfort was also numerically better for the acrylic resin prosthesis than for the modular silicone palatal lift prosthesis. Conclusions. This study demonstrates the feasibility of a new design for a flexible and modular palatal lift prosthesis. The functional outcomes were comparable to those of the traditional design. Although the overall results in this study favored the traditional prosthesis, the new design may be viable for patients who require alternative treatment solutions.485680; CIHR; Canadian Institutes of Health Researc