Bionic Sciences Inc. — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Improving Articulatory Precision in Neurologically Co

Description

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Improving Articulatory Precision in Neurologically Compromised Adults Using Audiovisual Biofeedback. One of the most frustrating impairments of neurological damage is the inability to communicate properly via the speechmodality due to weakness in the oral motor structures, also known as dysarthria. We propose to develop a Tongue Tracking System (TTS) that can present real-time, audiovisual biofeedback of lingual movements to both neurologically compromised individuals and their speech and language pathologists (SLP) to facilitate performance of oral motor speech related tasks. It may also offer a new quantitative assessment of their progress. Treatment of dysarthria usually focuses on remediation of the motor and/or sensory deficits. While traditionally accomplished through use of Non-Speech Oral Motor Exercises (NSOMEs) there are different schools of thought on interventional approaches. Some dispute the role of strength related exercise and advocate functional speech ph