Formants, or resonance frequencies of the upper vocal tract, are an essential part of acoustic communication. Articulatory gestures-such as jaw, tongue, lip, and soft palate movements-shape formant structure in human vocalizations, but little is known about how nonhuman mammals use those gestures to modify formant frequencies. Here, we report a case study with an adult male harbor seal trained to produce an arbitrary vocalization composed of multiple repetitions of the sound wa. We analyzed jaw movements frame-by-frame and matched them to the tracked formant modulation in the corresponding vocalizations. We found that the jaw opening angle was strongly correlated with the first (F1) and, to a lesser degree, with the second formant (F2). F2 variation was better explained by the jaw angle opening when the seal was lying on his back rather than on the belly, which might derive from soft tissue displacement due to gravity. These results show that harbor seals share some common articulatory traits with humans, where the F1 depends more on the jaw position than F2. We propose further in vivo investigations of seals to further test the role of the tongue on formant modulation in mammalian sound production.

This study examines how L1 English-L2 French learners use L1 articulatory and acoustic categories to produce L2 vowels that are both similar to and different from their L1 vowels. Previous studies examining the relationship between L1 and L2 sound inventories have found that learners reuse L1 phone categories to produce L2 phones that are perceived as similar, but importantly, there is a lack of articulatory data included in these types of studies, which has reinforced the assumption that vowel categories can be solely represented by their acoustic properties. The present study uses ultrasound tongue imaging data and videos of lip rounding in addition to acoustic data to examine how L1 English-L2 French learners produce the French vowels /i y u e ø o/ compared with their English vowels /i u e o/. The results focus on individual paths to category formation to show how learners articulate L2 vowels, and reveal that they tend to reuse L1 tongue body gestures to produce the French vowels /i u e o/, and lip rounding gestures to produce the round vowels /y u o/. This study demonstrates that transfer of articulatory gestures depends on vowel quality and emphasizes the importance of using articulatory data to inform theories of L2 category formation.

BACKGROUND: In response to the call for papers under the theme \"What is in a name\" proposed by the Scientific Child Speech Committee of the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP), the current paper discusses taxonomy and its relation to speech sound disorders (SSD) from a cross-linguistic perspective.
OBJECTIVE: This paper starts with a brief description of specific SSD frameworks and nomenclature.
METHODS: The authors draw from international theoretical and clinical research which underscore the importance of taxonomy systems in SSD.
RESULTS: The current papers stresses the importance of the contribution to differential diagnosis and prognosis of children with protracted speech profiles on the bases of taxonomy profiles and systems for SSD.
CONCLUSIONS: The advantages and shortcomings of taxonomy in SSD are also discussed from a cross-linguistic context. The language of focus includes the Greek dialectal variation of Cypriot-Greek.
CONCLUSIONS: The paper adds to the importance of taxonomy and SSD subsystems which allow differential diagnosis of SSD and the implementation of appropriate intervention methods. What is already known on this subject The use of various taxonomy systems regarding SSD are widely available for English-speaking populations. Such systems in the cross-linguistic framework remain underexplored. What this paper adds to existing knowledge The paper underscores the need for the development, adaptation and use of taxonomy systems that will add to the existing databases and taxonomy subsystems used in English What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Potential clinical implications include the development and implementation of taxonomy systems in profile SSD productions in children.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the accuracy of a partially digital cross-mounting workflow of direct scans of interocclusal records to a conventional workflow by analyzing the deviations of sequentially cross-mounted casts.
METHODS: A set of reference casts, comprising maxillary and mandibular full-arch prepared casts and interim prostheses, was articulated, mounted, and scanned to generate four reference casts for cross-mounting. In the conventional approach, 15 sets of these four casts were printed. Polyvinylsiloxane (PVS) records were made using the reference casts and utilized for sequential cross-mounting. In the partially digital group, the same PVS interocclusal records were scanned and used for digital cross-mounting via design software. The mean deviations of both groups from the reference cast were analyzed using a 3D inspection software program. Statistical tests, including paired t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA), were conducted to compare the average discrepancies between the two groups and to evaluate discrepancies in the anterior and posterior regions (α = 0.05).
RESULTS: The range of discrepancies was similar in both the conventional and partially digital groups. The final set of related casts had a mean deviation of 201.58 ± 136.98 mm in the conventional workflow and 248.69 ± 164.71 mm in the partially digital workflow. No statistically significant difference was found between conventional and partially digital groups (p = 0.091). Error propagation was examined by comparing discrepancies at each step within the cross-mounting process. In the conventional group, no significant difference was found (p = 0.148), but a significant difference was found among groups in the partially digital group at each step of sequential mounting (p < 0.001). A significant difference was observed between anterior and posterior deviations in the partially digital group (p < 0.001), but not in the conventional group (p = 0.143).
CONCLUSIONS: The study reveals that there is no statistically significant difference between conventional and partially digital cross-mounting workflows. However, within the partially digital group, a significant difference in deviation emerges across cross-mounting steps, with increased deviation in the anterior region.

Considerable debate exists about the interplay between auditory and motor speech systems. Some argue for common neural mechanisms, whereas others assert that there are few shared resources. In four experiments, we tested the hypothesis that priming the speech motor system by repeating syllable pairs aloud improves subsequent syllable discrimination in noise compared with a priming discrimination task involving same-different judgments via button presses. Our results consistently showed that participants who engaged in syllable repetition performed better in syllable discrimination in noise than those who engaged in the priming discrimination task. This gain in accuracy was observed for primed and new syllable pairs, highlighting increased sensitivity to phonological details. The benefits were comparable whether the priming tasks involved auditory or visual presentation. Inserting a 1-h delay between the priming tasks and the syllable-in-noise task, the benefits persisted but were confined to primed syllable pairs. Finally, we demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach in older adults. Our findings substantiate the existence of a speech production-perception relationship. They also have clinical relevance as they raise the possibility of production-based interventions to improve speech perception ability. This would be particularly relevant for older adults who often encounter difficulties in perceiving speech in noise.

The dangers and stresses of a police officer\'s career cause physical and psychological distress which in turn cause considerable challenges for the integration of professional, family, and personal life. This study focuses on the conditions that influence this articulation between the personal, family, and professional lives of Portuguese Police (PSP) officers. A questionnaire survey was applied to 414 police officers from 11 divisions of COMETLIS. At the empirical level, several models were tested to assess the articulation between the professional, family, and personal lives of police officers. The results highlight the influence of having young children, elderly people or other dependents living in the family home, as well as the employee\'s age, on the job\'s interaction with professional life. At a professional level, the variables shift work, professional category, years of service and working away from home were identified by the officers as conditioning factors in the work-family-personal life balance. Sex differences in the articulation of professional, family, and personal life were also observed.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the accuracy of virtual articulation in direct digital workflow (DDW) and indirect digital workflow (IDW) in arches prepared for fixed partial dentures (FPDs).
METHODS: Five pairs of master models were used in this study representing different clinical scenarios of full dentate (FD), and prepared arches for fixed partial dentures as follows: FD group, short span posterior (SSP group), long span posterior (LSP group), short span anterior (SSA group), and long span anterior (LSA). Fourteen pairs of interarch reference points were added to each set of master models to measure linear interarch distance with a caliper (reference measurements). The direct digital workflow included digital scans and virtual articulation with buccal scan images using an intraoral scanner. The indirect digital workflow included conventional polyvinylsiloxane impressions and bites followed by pouring, mounting, and scanning the stone models in a laboratory scanner. The scanned stone models were virtually articulated with buccal scanning in the laboratory scanner. Digital linear interarch measurements on all virtually-articulated models were compared with reference measurements. The absolute mean differences in linear interarch distances were calculated. The Mann-Whitney test was used for statistical analysis (α = .05).
RESULTS: The direct digital workflow produced significantly less linear interarch deviations in the virtually articulated models compared to the indirect digital workflow for all study groups (P < .05). However, the direct digital workflow had significantly less accuracy for virtual articulation in long span posterior, long span anterior, and short span anterior groups compared to the full dentate group.  CONCLUSIONS: Both workflows produced virtually-articulated models with acceptable accuracy. However, the direct digital workflow had significantly better accuracy in all assessed clinical scenarios.

The goal of this article is to illustrate the use of MRI for exploring bi- and multi-lingual articulatory strategies. One male and one female speaker recorded sets of static midsagittal MRIs of the whole vocal tract, producing vowels as well as consonants in various vowel contexts in either the male\'s two or the female\'s three languages. Both speakers were native speakers of English (American and Australian English, respectively), and both were fluent L2 speakers of French. In addition, the female speaker was a heritage speaker of Croatian. Articulatory contours extracted from the MRIs were subsequently used at three progressively more compact and abstract levels of analysis. (1) Direct comparison of overlaid contours was used to assess whether phones analogous across L1 and L2 are similar or dissimilar, both overall and in specific vocal tract regions. (2) Consonant contour variability along the vocal tract due to vowel context was determined using dispersion ellipses and used to explore the variable resistance to coarticulation for non-analogous rhotics and analogous laterals in Australian, French, and Croatian. (3) Articulatory modeling was used to focus on specific articulatory gestures (tongue position and shape, lip protrusion, laryngeal height, etc.) and then to explore the articulatory strategies in the speakers\' interlanguages for production of the French front rounded vowel series. This revealed that the Australian and American speakers used different strategies to produce the non-analogous French vowel series. We conclude that MRI-based articulatory data constitute a very rich and underused source of information that amply deserves applications to the study of L2 articulation and bilingual and multi-lingual speech.

UNASSIGNED: During articulation the velopharynx needs to be opened and closed rapidly and a tight closure is needed. Based on the hypothesis that patients with cleft lip and palate (CLP) produce lower pressures in the velopharynx than healthy individuals, this study compared pressure profiles of the velopharyngeal closure during articulation of different sounds between healthy participants and patients with surgically closed unilateral CLP (UCLP) using high resolution manometry (HRM).
UNASSIGNED: Ten healthy adult volunteers (group 1: 20-25.5 years) and ten patients with a non-syndromic surgically reconstructed UCLP (group 2: 19.1-26.9 years) were included in this study. Pressure profiles during the articulation of four sounds (/i:/, /s/, /ʃ/ and /n/) were measured by HRM. Maximum, minimum and average pressures, time intervals as well as detection of a previously described 3-phase-model were compared.
UNASSIGNED: Both groups presented with similar pressure curves for each phoneme with regards to the phases described and pressure peaks, but differed in total pressures. An exception was noted for the sound /i:/, where a 3-phase-model could not be seen for most patients with UCLP. Differences in velopharynx pressures of 50% and more were found between the two groups. Maximum and average pressures in the production of the alveolar fricative reached statistical significance.
UNASSIGNED: It can be concluded that velopharyngeal pressures of patients with UCLP are not sufficient to eliminate nasal resonance or turbulence during articulation, especially for more complex sounds. These results support a general understanding of hypernasality during speech implying a (relative) velopharyngeal insufficiency.
UNASSIGNED: Während der Artikulation öffnet und schließt sich der velopharyngeale Abschluss in schnellen Bewegungsabfolgen und für die Bildung einiger Laute ist ein vollständiger Abschluss notwendig. Für Patient_innen mit Lippen-, Kiefer-, Gaumenspalte (LKG) ist bekannt, dass die Verschlussdrücke im Velopharynx beim Schlucken reduziert sind. Ziel dieser Studie war es, die Druckprofile von Patient_innen mit unilateraler LKG und gesunden Proband_innen mittels Hochauflösungsmanometrie (HRM) zu vergleichen und zu evaluieren, ob bei der Produktion verschiedener Sprachlaute ebenfalls Druckunterschiede im Velopharynx bestehen.
UNASSIGNED: Es wurden 10 gesunde Erwachsene (Gruppe 1: 20–25,5 Jahre) und 10 Patient_innen mit einer nicht-syndromalen operativ verschlossenen unilateralen LKG (Gruppe 2: 19,1–26,9 Jahre) untersucht. HRM-Verschlussdruckprofile wurden während der Artikulation von 4 Sprachlauten (/i:/, /s/, /ʃ/ und /n/) aufgezeichnet. Es wurden Maximal-, Minimal- und Durchschnittsdrücke sowie Zeitintervalle ermittelt. Zudem wurden die Druckprofile mit einem zuvor beschriebenen 3-Phasen-Phonationsmodell verglichen.
UNASSIGNED: In beiden Gruppen zeigten sich in Bezug auf die Phonationsphasen ähnliche Druckprofile für die produzierten Laute, allerdings lagen unterschiedliche Gesamtdrücke vor. Eine Ausnahme stellte die Realisation des Lautes /i:/ dar, bei der sich bei den meisten Patient_innen mit LKG keine drei Phonationsphasen erkennen ließen. Zwischen den beiden Gruppen existierten Druckunterschiede in der Velopharynxregion von 50% und mehr. Es fanden sich statistisch signifikante Unterschiede bei den Maximaldruck- und durchschnittlichen Druckwerten bei der Produktion von alveolaren Frikativen.
UNASSIGNED: Die reduzierten velopharyngealen Verschlussdrücke bei Patient_innen mit LKG tragen wahrscheinlich dazu bei, dass nasale Resonanzen und Turbulenzen nicht ausreichend eliminiert und komplexere Laute dadurch nicht korrekt gebildet werden. Die hier erhobenen Ergebnisse unterstützen die Annahme, dass die bei Patient_innen mit LKG häufig beobachtete Hypernasalität während der Sprachproduktion auf eine (relative) velopharyngeale Insuffizienz zurückzuführen ist.

UNASSIGNED: Rhinophonia aperta may result from velopharyngeal insufficiency. Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) has been discussed in the context of muscle strengthening. The aim of this study was to evaluate in healthy subjects whether NMES can change the velopharyngeal closure pattern during phonation and increase muscle strength.
UNASSIGNED: Eleven healthy adult volunteers (21-57 years) were included. Pressure profiles were measured by high resolution manometry (HRM): isolated sustained articulation of /a/ over 5 s (protocol 1), isolated NMES applied to soft palate above motor threshold (protocol 2) and combined articulation with NMES (protocol 3). Mean activation pressures (MeanAct), maximum pressures (Max), Area under curve (AUC) and type of velum reactions were compared. A statistical comparison of mean values of protocol 1 versus protocol 3 was carried out using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. Ordinally scaled parameters were analyzed by cross table.
UNASSIGNED: MeanAct values measured: 17.15±20.69 mmHg (protocol 1), 34.59±25.75 mmHg (protocol 3) on average, Max: 37.86±49.17 mmHg (protocol 1), 87.24±59.53 mmHg (protocol 3) and AUC: 17.06±20.70 mmHg.s (protocol 1), 33.76±23.81 mmHg.s (protocol 3). Protocol 2 produced velum reactions on 32 occasions. These presented with MeanAct values of 13.58±12.40 mmHg, Max values of 56.14±53.14 mmHg and AUC values of 13.84±12.78 mmHg.s on average. Statistical analysis comparing protocol 1 and 3 showed more positive ranks for MeanAct, Max and AUC. This difference reached statistical significance (p=0.026) for maximum pressure values.
UNASSIGNED: NMES in combination with articulation results in a change of the velopharyngeal closure pattern with a pressure increase of around 200% in healthy individuals. This might be of therapeutic benefit for patients with velopharyngeal insufficiency.
UNASSIGNED: Offene Rhinophonien können aufgrund einer velopharyngealen Insuffizienz entstehen. Die neuromuskuläre Elektrostimulation (NMES) wird seit einiger Zeit als Therapieform zur Muskelkräftigung angewendet. Ziel dieser Studie war es, an gesunden Proband_innen zu untersuchen, ob NMES das velopharygeale Verschlussmuster während der Phonation verändern und die Muskelkraft erhöhen kann.
UNASSIGNED: In die Studie wurden 11 gesunde Proband_innen eingeschlossen (21–57 Jahre). Mit der Hochauflösungsmanometrie wurden Druckprofile unter verschiedenen Bedingungen aufgezeichnet: die isolierte Phonation des Lautes /a/ über 5 s (Protokoll 1), die isolierte, motorisch überschwellig applizierte NMES auf das Velum (Protokoll 2) sowie die Phonation und die NMES in Kombination (Protokoll 3). Verglichen wurden der durchschnittliche Druck während der Aktivierung (MeanAct), die durchschnittlichen Maximaldrücke (Max), die durchschnittlichen Integrale unter der Druckkurve (Area under curve (AUC)) und die Art der Velumreaktion. Der Vergleich der Durchschnittswerte von Protokoll 1 und 3 wurden mithilfe des Wilcoxon-Vorzeichen-Rang-Tests durchgeführt. Ordinär skalierte Parameter wurden über eine Kreuztabelle analysiert.
UNASSIGNED: MeanAct Mittelwerte lagen bei 17,15±20,69 mmHg (Protokoll 1), 34,59±25,75 mmHg (Protokoll 3), Max bei 37,86±49,17 mmHg (Protokoll 1), 87,24±59,53 mmHg (Protokoll 3) und AUC bei 17,06±20,70 mmHg.s (Protokoll 1), 33.76±23.81 mmHg.s (Protokoll 3). Im Protokoll 2 zeigten sich 32 Velumreaktionen mit durchschnittlichen MeanAct-Werten von 13,58±12,40 mmHg, Maximalwerten von 56,14±53,14 mmHg und Mean-AUC-Werten von 13,84±12,78 mmHg.s. Der Vergleich der Protokolle 1 und 3 ergab mehr positive Ränge für die Kombination aus Phonation und NMES und für die Parameter MeanAct, Max und AUC. Dieser Unterschied zeigte mit p=0.026 statistische Signifikanz in Bezug auf den Parameter Max.
UNASSIGNED: NMES in Kombination mit Phonation führt bei Gesunden zu einer Veränderung des velopharyngealen Verschlussmusters mit einer Druckerhöhung von etwa 200%. Dies könnte für Patient_innen mit velopharyngealer Insuffizienz von therapeutischem Nutzen sein.