Technology
recently allowed researchers to switch from 2-D to the Opti-Speech technology,
which shows the 3-D images of the tongue.
(November 19, 2015) A
new study done by UT Dallas researchers indicates that watching 3-D images of
tongue movements can help individuals learn speech sounds.
According to Dr. William Katz, co-author of the study and
professor at the Callier Center for Communication Disorders, the findings could
be especially helpful for stroke patients seeking to improve their speech
articulation.
“These results show that individuals can be taught consonant
sounds in part by watching 3-D tongue images,” said Katz, who teaches in the
School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. “But we also are seeking to use visual
feedback to get at the underlying nature of apraxia and other related
disorders.”
The study, which appears in the journal Frontiers in Human
Neuroscience, was small but showed that participants became more accurate in
learning new sounds when they were exposed to visual feedback training.