Analysis of articulatory dynamics in esophageal speakers and its application for speech rehabilitation

为了阐明食道说话人的发音特征，对熟练和不熟练食道说话人的录音样本进行了言语辨别测试。研究发现，即使在熟练的被试中，对不发音的顿音或提示音/h/的辨别得分也很低。为了分析食道说话人的发音动力学，我们制作了腭模，并为每个受试者制作了人工腭进行腭电成像。在正常受试者中也采用相同的程序来获得对照数据样本。食道说话者的腭电图数据表明，与正常受试者相比，舌腭接触摩擦音的区域明显狭窄。研究还发现，在发声过程中，食道说话者的口内压力往往更高。这些结果表明食道说话者存在特殊的发音调节，可以在少量供气的情况下有效地发出某些类型的辅音。结论食道说话人在康复过程中必须采用这种发音调节方式进行发音训练。

In order to elucidate the articulatory characteristics of esophageal speakers, speech discrimination tests were performed on the recorded samples of skilled and unskilled esophageal speakers. It was found that the discrimination score was low for voiceless stops or fircative /h/ even in skilled subjects. For the analysis of articulatory dynamics of esophageal speakers, a palatal mold was obtained and artificial palate was prepared for electropalatograhy for each subject. The same procedure was also taken in normal subjects to obtain control data samples. Electropalatographic data in esophageal speakers indicated that the area of linguo-palatal contact for fricatives was significantly narrower compared with normal subjects. It was also found that intra-oral pressure during the production of voiceless sounds tended to be higher in esophageal speakers. These results suggested that there was a special articulatory adjustment in esophageal speakers to produce some type of consonants effectively with small amount of air supply. It was concluded that this type of articulatory adjustment must be adopted for the articulatory training for esophageal speakers during the course of rehabilitaion.