MRI & CT Studies of the Developing Vocal Tract

描述（由申请人提供）：从婴儿期到幼儿期和青少年期，组成声道的口腔和咽腔在大小、形状和相对比例方面都会发生变化。虽然声学理论表明，声乐几何形状是语音的频谱形状的预测，在声道中的语音声学变化的发展变化之间的关系还没有得到充分的研究。这是由于缺乏定量信息的解剖重建的声道在发展过程中。为了解决这个问题，我们设计了一种磁共振成像（MRI）程序来测量头部和颈部的36个预定义结构（Vorperian等人，1999），并获得了300个典型和10个典型（21三体）发展病例的成像数据库。这使我们能够构建一个独特的数据库的测量同时发展的头部，面部和声道结构。我们的新发现表明，声道长度的发展遵循的生长曲线，是中间的神经和躯体的生长曲线;不同的声道结构的相对贡献，其延长的变化过程中的发展;和在硬组织和软组织结构的同步增长持续在加速增长的时期。拟议的项目结合成像，声学分析和几何建模的发展，从婴儿期到成年期的声道的调查。本研究的目标是：（1）通过进行额外的线性和体积测量来扩展我们的测量数据库，并使用代表特定声道解剖结构的声学测量来补充它;（2）统计建模声道结构的个体和同步生长模式的一般趋势;（3）配置发育声道的几何模型并计算共振峰频率;以及（4）将计算的共振峰值与年龄特异性声学数据相关联，以推断关于咬合架移动性的发育模式。这些目标将通过我们的MR成像数据库来实现，该数据库涵盖了典型和恶性发展病例的整个发展时期，以及将得到保护的类似计算机断层扫描（CT）图像数据库。这一发现对于进一步了解言语发育的解剖学相关性具有重要的理论和临床意义。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The oral and pharyngeal cavities making up the vocal tract undergo changes in size, shape, and relative proportions during the growth process from infancy through early childhood and adolescence. While acoustic theory indicates that vocal geometry is predictive of the spectrum shape of speech sounds, the relation between developmental changes in the vocal tract to changes in speech acoustics has not been adequately investigated. This is due to the scarcity of quantitative information on the anatomic remodeling of the vocal tract during development. To address this, we devised a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedure to measure 36 predefined structures of the head and neck (Vorperian, et al., 1999) and secured an imaging database of 300 typically and 10 atypically (Trisomy 21) developing cases. This enabled us to construct a unique database of measurements on the concurrent development of the head, face and vocal tract structures. Our novel findings indicate that the development of vocal tract length follows a growth curve that is intermediate to the neural and somatic growth curves; that the relative contribution of the different vocal tract structures towards its lengthening changes during the course of development; and that the synchronous growth in hard and soft tissue structures persists during periods of accelerated growth. The proposed project combines imaging, acoustic analysis, and geometric modeling in an investigation of the development of the vocal tract from infancy through adulthood. The goals of this proposed research are to: (1) expand our measurement database by making additional linear and volumetric measurements, and supplement it with acoustic measurements representative of the specified vocal tract anatomy; (2) statistically model general trends in the individual and synchronous growth patterns of the vocal tract structures; (3) configure geometric models of the developing vocal tract and compute formant frequencies; and (4) correlate computed formant values with age specific acoustic data to make inferences regarding developmental patterns of articulator mobility. These goals will be addressed through our MR imaging database that spans the entire developmental period of typically and atypically developing cases, and a similar computerized tomography (CT) image database that will be secured. The findings will be of theoretical and clinical significance for an improved understanding of the anatomic correlates of speech development.