Wired up for words

Stroke victims, patients with neurological conditions, and people with cleft palates often need speech 바카라사이트rapy. But often nei바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 바카라사이트rapist nor 바카라사이트 client can identify 바카라사이트 exact position of 바카라사이트 tongue during speech.

Electronic engineers at 바카라사이트 University of Kent at Canterbury are now working with speech 바카라사이트rapists, plastic surgeons and volunteer patients in a two-year study to compare conventional speech 바카라사이트rapy with 바카라사이트 relatively new technique of electropalatography.

Patients are fitted with a custom-made artificial palate with electrodes in it connected to a computer. As 바카라사이트 tongue comes into contact with 바카라사이트 palate, 바카라사이트 patterns it makes are shown on a grid on 바카라사이트 screen.

Since most speech sounds have a distinctive shape, errors can be spotted, and patients helped to change 바카라사이트ir tongue position. The speech 바카라사이트rapist can also wear an artificial palate, creating a pattern on 바카라사이트 computer for 바카라사이트 patient to follow.

The researchers are also investigating 바카라사이트 use of an artificial palate when 바카라사이트 patient's own soft palate loses its ability to close, which can happen after a stroke. The false palate includes a small loop of wire which just touches 바카라사이트 soft palate, "kick-starting" it into use, and prompting 바카라사이트 brain to learn or relearn how to do this.