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

Tongue-pressure and hyoid movement timing in healthy liquid swallowing

We hypothesized that tongue-palate pressure generation might directly facilitate hyoid movement in swallowing through the anatomical connections of the extrinsic tongue muscles. If true, noninvasive measures of tongue-palate pressure timing might serve as a proxy measure of hyoid excursion. We explored the timing lationships between events in the tongue-palate pressure and hyoid movement profiles during water and nectar-thick liquid swallowing in healthy adults. Concurrent intra-oral manometry and submental B-mode midsagittal ultrasound were recorded. We determined that there is no obligate sequence in the onsets, or offsets, of tongue-palate pressures and hyoid excursion. Timing lags (either of hyoid movement lagging tongue-palate pressures, or vice versa) fell within ½ second, on average. We conclude that tongue-palate pressure generation and hyoid movement are separate phenomena in the swallowing sequence and that non-invasive measures of tongue-pressure timing cannot be used reliably as proxy measures of hyoid movement timing

Consonant Intelligibility and Tongue Motility in Patients with Partial Glossectomy

There is interest in the materials research community in the development of materials for high performance, high temperature turbine engine design. As they are in the development stage, these materials are in very short supply, and it is, therefore, difficult to determine the most basic of material parameters. The alloys and ceramics under consideration are typically very brittle, and one of the critical material parameters needed to evaluate them is fracture toughness. Fracture toughness is the measure of notch sensitivity of a material and knowledge of this parameter allows decisions to be made about the inspectability and inspection requirements for the materials by establishing a critical crack length. Processing techniques and toughening mechanisms being investigated during material development can also be evaluated by making precise measurements of toughness changes