Tongue Position in Glossectomy Patients vs. Controls in /s/ during Speech with consideration for the effects of Palatal Features

Abstract

Purpose: This study examines the tongue behavior of glossectomy (N = 8) and control (N =12) speakers using a combination of high-resolution and cine- MRI. The speech task “a geese” phonetically spelled /əgis/, was used to measure anterior tongue displacement, termed “anteriority”, for the /ə/, a neutral vowel, and the /s/. Effects on anteriority due to palate height, arch perimeter, inter-canine width and /s/ type were measured on controls and patients. There are two variants of /s/ in English: apical and laminal. The apical /s/ elevates the tongue tip to contact the palate, create a narrow, grooved constriction, and focus the jet stream of air onto the incisors. The laminal /s/ uses the tongue blade, just behind the tip, to create the grooved constriction, and the tip is kept lower in the mouth.[1, 2]