Ultrasound in speech therapy with adolescents and adults

Abstract

The present paper comprises an overview of techniques using ultrasound in speech (re)habilitation. Ultrasound treatment techniques have been developed for English lingual stops, vowels, sibilants, and liquids. These techniques come from a series of small n studies with adolescents and adults with severe hearing impairment, residual speech impairment or accented speech at the Interdisciplinary Speech Research Laboratory at the University of British Columbia. Ultrasound allows excellent visualization of tongue shape features, which is especially useful for feedback during speech (re)habilitation. Further research is needed to evaluate the efficacy of ultrasound in speech (re)habilitation.

Tongue reading: Comparing the interpretation of visual information from inside the mouth, from electropalatographic and ultrasound displays of speech sounds

“…In sum, our findings support the notion that EPG an ultrasound are relatively intuitive techniques Wood, 2010 andBernhardt et al, 2005). Both techniques seem suitable for indirect therapy, since little training would be required in helping those with speech disorders to interpret the images.…”

“…It was surprising that participants performed at chance level in the ultrasound vowel condition since previous research has highlighted the value of this visual feedback tool in treatment of vowels due to the anatomically correct visualisation of the configuration and position of the tongue (Bernhardt et al, 2005). Difficulty tongue-reading from vowels may be due to a speaker's lack of awareness of their own tongue during vowel production or because vowel quality is highly dependent on the shape and width of the whole vocal tract, not just tongue location and shape.…”

“…With this technique most of the surface of the tongue can be made visible in a mid-sagittal view in real-time. This view can be used for visual feedback of tongue and interpreting such images is thought to be relatively intuitive (Bernhardt, Gick, Bacsfalvi, and Adler-Bock, 2005). Unlike EPG, the image is an anatomically correct representation of a slice of the tongue, as in a Talking Head.…”

Comparative Morphology of the Hominin and African Ape Hyoid Bone, a Possible Marker of the Evolution of Speech

“…Those studies that have used ultrasound have done so with adolescents or adults who are likely to process the cognitive skills to interpret ultrasound images more easily (for example, Bernhardt, 2005). However, there is some evidence that children with Speech Sound Disorders (SSDs) may benefit from visual feedback techniques (Michi et al, 2003) which allow them to see and modify real-time images of their own articulations.…”

Therapy for Abnormal Vowels in Children with Speech Disorders

“…Bernhardt, Gick, Bacsfalvi and Adler-Bock (2005) developed ultrasound treatment guidelines for English vowels, as well as stops, sibilants, and liquids based on a series of studies with adolescents and adults with hearing impairment or residual speech impairments. Bacsfalvi, Bernhardt and Gick (2007) reported the results of a speech therapy programme for adolescents with hearing loss, which involved the use of ultrasound as biofeedback for vowel production.…”