Compressibility analysis of the tongue during speech [using MRI motion analysis]

The motivation of this study is to observe the compressibility of the tongue during speech. The tongue has a complicated muscular structure. Real-time MRI (16 frames/s) with tagging has been used for imaging during the utterance of four short syllables, "sha", "ga", "ta" and "ba." Four-dimensional parametric motion field analysis has been used which allows point tracking everywhere on the tongue. In this paper, 3D compression and expansion analysis of the tongue will be presented. Patterns of expansion and compression have been compared for different syllables and various repetitions of each syllable. The long-term objective of this research is to provide important information about the motion of the internal tongue muscles and shed light on the intricate relationship between these muscles and the final shape of the tongue during regular and abnormal speech patterns.