Muscle Imaging and Speech Animation Using MRI Input Data
David P. Kuehn Professor, Department of Speech and Hearing Science
Brad Sutton Research Scientist, Biomedical Imaging Center
Janet M. Sinn-Hanlon Biomedical Imaging Specialist, VMIL, Beckman Institute
The ability to image the velcar (soft palate) region in humans is crucial for a complete understanding of the anatomy of the region and for the best treatment for velar inadequacy, which is a major problem in individuals born with the birth defect of cleft palate. The most commonly used imaging procedures are limited in their ability to image underlying velar and pharyngeal musculature. This proposal will use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to substantially overcome current limitations. This new initiative seeks to use MRI to image speech during natural conversational speech to provide animation of critical speech structures within a semitransparent surface rendering of the human head. Such dynamic imaging of the speech production process is very important in diagnosing speech disorders in the clinical population with “occult” submucous cleft palate, which is difficult to identify with the unaided eye. This approach avoids the necessity of multiple productions and would be a very significant improvement in clinical and research applications.