Patients who have had surgical removal of part or all of the tongue are left with varying degrees of swallowing and speech deficiencies. The extent of resection, mobility of the residual tongue segment, and adequacy of the remaining structures determine the amount and type of deficiency. While communicative impairment and dysphagia commonly are seen in a rehabilitation setting, the problems of the glossectomy patient often are unique. This article reviews the anatomy and physiology of the oral and pharyngeal musculature, discusses the speech and swallowing of the glossectomy patient, and presents nursing considerations for successful rehabilitation.
Thirty-two children participated in a study designed to determine the effects of sensorimotor training on proto-declarative and proto-imperative performative behavior. The children were randomly assigned to training on means-end schemes, training on relating to objects schemes, training on both means-end and relating to objects, or to a control condition involving no training. Results indicated that relating to objects schemes training was successful. Also, a greater degree of performative usage was seen in the relating to objects training group. These results offer relatively strong evidence for a relationship between these sensorimotor and communicative abilities.
Pitch perturbation is a measure of the cycle-to-cycle variation in vocal fold vibration. Perturbation can be assessed by means of electroglottographic or acoustic signals. The purpose of this study was to determine if these two analysis techniques are equivalent measures. The Laryngograph, an electroglottograph, and the Visi-Pitch, an acoustic analyzer, were used to measure pitch perturbation in 80 dysphonic subjects. Both instruments use Koike's formula to calculate relative average perturbation. While intra-subject variability appeared erratic, statistical analysis of intersubject data indicated that the two instruments provided an equivalent measure of pitch perturbation.
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