Use of Electromagnetic midsagittal articulography in the study of swallowing

The tongue functions as the primary articulator during the oropharyngeal stages of swallowing. However, detailed descriptions of the kinematics and spatiotemporal variability of tongue behaviors during swallowing are limited to a handful of analyses of data from the X-ray microbeam database. In this article, a new technique, electromagnetic midsagittal articulography (EMMA), is introduced for the high-resolution description of oral articulatory movements during swallowing. Data from 8 healthy, nondysphagic participants are used to illustrate the methods used for data collection and analysis. Movement data were collected for 3 fleshpoint positions on the tongue (blade, body, dorsum) during sequences of repeated discrete water swallows, and were characterized for variables of spatiotemporal variability and 4 discrete kinematic parameters (movement amplitude, peak velocity, duration, and kinematic stiffness). These data show that the movement trajectories measured using EMMA are consistent with descriptions from previous X-ray microbeam studies, indicating that EMMA is a feasible method for the detailed study of tongue movements during swallowing

ოირემეს ახალი სკოლა

სურათზე გამოსახულია ზუგდიდის რაიონის სოფელ ოირემეს ახალი სკოლის შენობა.ოირემე — სოფელი საქართველოში, სამეგრელო-ზემო სვანეთის მხარის ზუგდიდის მუნიციპალიტეტში, ოდიშის დაბლობზე

Speech production in people who stutter: Testing the motor plan assembly hypothesis

Contains fulltext : 23009___.PDF (publisher's version ) (Open Access)The main purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that persons who stutter, when compared to persons who do not stutter, are less able to assemble abstract motor plans for short verbal responses. Subjects were adult males who stutter and age- and sex-matched control speakers, who were tested on naming pictures and words, using a choice-reaction time paradigm for both tasks. Words varied in the number of syllables (1, 2, and 3 syllables) and, for the bisyllabic words, also in the number of consonants (one or more) at the onset of the second syllable. Measurements consisted of speech reaction times, word durations, and measures of relative timing of specific motor events in the respiratory, phonatory, and articulatory subsystems. Results indicated that, in spite of longer speech reaction times for persons who stutter in comparison to control speakers, there was no interaction with word size, a finding that does not lend support to the abovementioned hypothesis. Word durations were found to be longer for persons who stutter, and, in addition, there was an interaction of group with word size. Both findings were associated with longer delays for persons who stutter in the onset of upper lip integrated electromyographic (IEMG) activity and thoracic compression, and a group effect on the order of upper lip and lower lip IEMG onset. Findings are taken to suggest the possibility that persons who stutter may use different motor control strategies to compensate for a reduced verbal motor skill, and although the nature of this reduced skill is unknown, it is speculated that it relates to the processes involved in the integration of sensory-motor information