Speech rehabilitation for road accident victims
University of Queensland researchers are developing new approaches to rehabilitating people with speech impairments due to major head trauma such as road accidents.
Concentrating on the dynamics of tongue movement in the mouth, their initial aim is to help road accident victims with communication difficulties to regain intelligible speech.
A team from the University's Motor Speech Research Unit within the Speech Pathology and Audiology Department will use a German-designed microelectronic device known as the Electromagnetic Articulograph to investigate displacement, timing and co-ordination of the articulatory components of the speech production mechanism following head injury.
This device is the first instrument capable of observing movements of the articulators, especially the tongue, during speech without the use of ionising radiation. Although x-ray techniques are available for this purpose, these are usually not used because of unacceptable radiation exposure.
The instrument projects a ?real time' view of movement of the structures in the vocal tract through electronic sensors located in various parts of the mouth.
These link an array of transmitter coils located in a helmet-like device to a computer software package. The technique is biologically safe and uses alternating magnetic fields for tracking movement of multiple points in the speech mechanism.
Earlier this year, the Department took delivery of the only Articulograph in the Southern Hemisphere, and one of only a handful worldwide, to use in its Motor Speech Research Unit.
The Motor Speech Research Unit is recognised internationally for its research into communication deficits associated with neurological diseases.
The $60,000 price tag for the instrument was met primarily through external research grants. The operations of the Motor Speech Research Unit are currently funded by grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council, National Multiple Sclerosis Society of Australia and the Motor Accident Insurance Commission.
The team, led by the Department's head, Professor Bruce Murdoch, has, since delivery of the device, been preparing for the project by developing and introducing more complex analysis programs to the package to focus on mapping tongue movement during speech.
He said the University's Articulograph would be one of the first to be used with pathological cases as a diagnostic tool for people with articulatory dysfunction following head injury.
"Some of our earlier research has indicated that tongue dysfunction constitutes a major component of the overall speech disorder in people following head injury. Consequently, the tongue is one of the main areas for focus when you are looking at speech disorders in this population. The Articulograph will allow us for the first time to look at the dynamics of tongue movement during speech," Professor Murdoch said.
"The machine allows us to build up information on the precise movements and range of activities of any part of the tongue during production of a variety of speech tasks, which in turn aids in the diagnosis of tongue problems as well as providing direction for any subsequent therapy.
"Ultimately our aim is to use the information generated by the Articulograph to help head-injured people to learn to redirect and recontrol their tongues in order to produce intelligible speech through the application of ?real time' biofeedback programs utilising the Articulograph technology."
Professor Murdoch and his colleagues, Dr Deborah Theodoros, technician Peter Stokes, and PhD student Justine Goozee, have recently received ethical clearances to enable them to begin work with head injured cases.
"Although the initial assessment with the Articulograph will take in the order of half an hour per case, the eventual rehabilitation programs will take time to develop," Professor Murdoch said.
"We will need to have separate rehabilitation programs developed for each individual case of head injury and it is anticipated that the work will take several years to complete."
Following work with head-injured people, the University team will turn its attention to helping speech-disordered people suffering from Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis. Ultimately the technology may be used for people with maxillo-facial problems.
"We are initially concentrating on people who are moderately speech-disordered, i.e. those who can make themselves understood by persons close to them, but who cannot be understood by members of the general public," Professor Murdoch said.
"We are initially looking at people with chronic speech problems, six months post-injury at least, but there are some cases to be included in our study who will have had persistent speech problems for up to 10 years post head injury.
"Speech disorders resulting from head injury are extremely debilitating, particularly in the communication age of the 90s where the presence of a speech impairment clearly reduces a person's opportunities to return to the workforce as well as limiting general social interactions."
Professor Murdoch said that his team would exchange information gathered on its developments of the Articulograph with other users of this technology in Europe.
For more information, contact Professor Murdoch (telephone 07 3365 3081)
