• Korean Journal of Bronchoesophagology
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.191-197
• /
• 1999

Background and Objective : Soft palate plays a great role in function of speech and swallowing. Ablation of tonsil cancer results in multi-demensional defect including soft palate in most cases and restoration of the postoperative oral cavity function is a continuing surgical challenge. Although a variety of techniques are available, radial forearm free flap has been known as an effective method for these defect, which offers a thin, pliable, and relatively hairless skin, and a long vascular pedicle. The aim of the present study is to report the speech and swallowing function test results of our 5 consecutive radial forearm free flaps used for tonsil cancers. Materials and Methods : We reviewed the medical records of 5 patients who were offered intraoral reconstruction with a radial forearm free flap after ablative surgery for tonsil cancers, from Dec. 1997 to Oct. 1998, and analyzed the surgical methods, complications, and speech and swallowing function test results. We have examined with modified barium swallow to evaluate postoperative wallowing function and articulation and resonance test for speech. Results : The tumor sizes by TNM stage(AJCC, 1997) were T1(1), T2(2), and T4(3). The paddles of flaps were tailored in multilobed designs from oval shape to pentalobed design and in variable size from 24$cm^2$ to 108$cm^2$(average size = 78.4$cm^2$), according to the defect after ablation. This procedures resulted in satisfactory flap success and functional results all but 1 case of flap contracture in 2 postoperative week, achieved early oral diet until 16-57 postoperative day(average, 28 days) and social speech. The oropharyngeal defect including soft palate reconstruction with radial forearm free flap might be an excellent method for the maximal functional results, after ablative surgery of tonsil cancer that results in multidimensional defect.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.3-10
• /
• 2013

The purpose of this study is to analyze the acoustic characteristics of Korean alveolar sibilant sounds of children with cerebral palsy by acoustic analysis. Thirteen children with spastic cerebral palsy aging from 6 to 10 years old, were selected by an articulation test, and compared with a control group of thirty children. The meaningless monosyllable CV, disyllable VCV(/asa/) and frame sentence including target syllables CV were measured. C was from the /s, s'/, and V was from the set /a, i, u, ${\varepsilon}$, o, ɯ, ʌ/. Multi-Speech was used for data recording and analysis. As a result, the frication duration of lenis-glottalized alveolar sibilant of children with cerebral palsy was significantly shorter than that of the control group in CV, VCV and frame sentence. The vowel duration in the following lenis-glottalized alveolar sibilant of children with cerebral palsy was significantly longer than that of the control group in CV, VCV and frame sentence. The children with cerebral palsy showed frequency and intensity of friction intervals which were significantly lower than in the control group in CV, VCV and frame sentence. In the comparison of the lenis-glottalized alveolar sibilant by the children with cerebral palsy group's phonation types, the frication duration showed a significant difference between the phonation types in CV, VCV and between the phonetic contexts. The glottalized-sibilant was longer than the lenis-sibilant in all the phonetic contexts. The subsequent vowel duration showed a significant difference between the phonation types in VCV and between the phonetic contexts(p<.05). The vowel duration in the following glottalized-sibilant was longer than the vowel duration in the following lenis-sibilant in all the phonetic contexts. In the frequency there was a significant difference between the phonation types in CV, and in the intensity there was a significant difference between the phonation type in CV and VCV. The children with spastic cerebral palsy had difficulty in articulating the alveolar sibilant due to poor control ability in laryngeal, respiration and articulatory movements which require fine motor coordination. This study quantitatively analyzes the acoustic parameters of the alveolar sibilant in various phonetic contexts. Therefore, the results are expected to help provide fundamental data for an intervention of articulation treatment for children with cerebral palsy.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.526-534
• /
• 2001

Purpose : The objective of this study is to ascertain whether the positive exists among the frenum length, the tongue movement and the speech and to present the normal range of tongue movement and guidelines for the choice of surgery, observation if necessary. Materials and Methods : 180 patients were evaluated. We divided 180 patients into 6 group by age. Each group was separated as follows; the age of 2.5-4, 5-6, 7-9, 10-12, 16-18. We measured the frenal length, the range of tongue motion and evaluated the speech so that we really questioned about the positive relationship between the tongue-tie and speech. We let the patient exercise the protrusive both(right, left) laterotrusive superior movement of the tongue. During these movements, we measured the distance between the vermilion border and the tongue tip. We also measured the distance from the tongue tip to the point contacting the upper lip with dorsum of the tongue during the maximal protrusive movement of the tongue. Three linear measurement of the anterior, inferior segment of the tongue including the lingual frenum, are made. These measurements are as follows: 1. Distance A. Free anterior portion of the tongue from the point of frenular insertion to the tongue tip. 2. Distance B. The distance from the initiating point of the lingual frenum to the point connecting the two sublingual carundcles to the lingual frenum perpendicularly. 3. Distance C. The distance from the point contacting the line crossing the sublingual caruncles with the lingual frenum to the terminating point of the lingual frenum. We transform three linear measures into a statistical ratio, A/(A-B+C), representing the length of the free portion of the tongue compared with the total sublingual dimensions. In addition, we assessed the speech through Picture Consonant Articulation Test(PCAT) and tried to find out the relationship between the length of the lingual frenum and speech. Conclusion : As people are born, they have small and restricted tongue. As people grow old, tongue motions are more liberate, and unrestricted and they can speak so freely. Therefore we suggest that until age 5, oral and maxillofacial surgeons postpone the surgery if not urgent, evaluate the maximal lingual motions and PCAT according to this article and observe their changes.

• The KIPS Transactions:PartB
• /
• v.10B no.2
• /
• pp.169-178
• /
• 2003

This study outlines two viewpoints the classification of phone likely unit (PLU) which is the foundation of korean large vocabulary speech recognition, and the effectiveness of Chiljongseong (7 Final Consonants) and Paljogseong (8 Final Consonants) of the korean language. The phone likely classifies the phoneme phonetically according to the location of and method of articulation, and about 50 phone-likely units are utilized in korean speech recognition. In this study auditory phonetical knowledge was applied to the classification of phone likely unit to present 45 phone likely unit. The vowels 'ㅔ, ㅐ'were classified as phone-likely of (ee) ; 'ㅒ, ㅖ' as [ye] ; and 'ㅚ, ㅙ, ㅞ' as [we]. Secondly, the Chiljongseong System of the draft for unified spelling system which is currently in use and the Paljongseonggajokyong of Korean script haerye were illustrated. The question on whether the phonetic value on 'ㄷ' and 'ㅅ' among the phonemes used in the final consonant of the korean fan guage is the same has been argued in the academic world for a long time. In this study, the transition stages of Korean consonants were investigated, and Ciljonseeng and Paljongseonggajokyong were utilized in speech recognition, and its effectiveness was verified. The experiment was divided into isolated word recognition and speech recognition, and in order to conduct the experiment PBW452 was used to test the isolated word recognition. The experiment was conducted on about 50 men and women - divided into 5 groups - and they vocalized 50 words each. As for the continuous speech recognition experiment to be utilized in the materialized stock exchange system, the sentence corpus of 71 stock exchange sentences and speech corpus vocalizing the sentences were collected and used 5 men and women each vocalized a sentence twice. As the result of the experiment, when the Paljongseonggajokyong was used as the consonant, the recognition performance elevated by an average of about 1.45% : and when phone likely unit with Paljongseonggajokyong and auditory phonetic applied simultaneously, was applied, the rate of recognition increased by an average of 1.5% to 2.02%. In the continuous speech recognition experiment, the recognition performance elevated by an average of about 1% to 2% than when the existing 49 or 56 phone likely units were utilized.

• Korean Journal of Cleft Lip And Palate
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.1-6
• /
• 2009

Oronasal fistula are a well-known complication of surgical treatment of cleft palate, occurring most frequently in the alveolus and hard palate. Previous reports have demonstrated that oronasal fistulas, particularly if greater than l cm in diameter, had an adverse effect on speech. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the relationship between the size of the fistula and the influence on velopharyngeal function. The site and size of the fistula were indicated on graph paper with calipers and measured in $mm^2$. Speech assessment was carried out using a Nasometer, VPI articulation differential test, spectrography. Patient whose fistulas affected their speech had significantly larger fistulas than those whose fistulas did not. The study shows that the larger the fistula, the greater the risk of hypernasality and nasal emission, but even small fistulas can cause speech problems. If obstruction of the nasal passage is eliminated in a patient with a previously asymptomatic fistula, it may result in a fistula becoming symptomatic, resulting in hypernasality and nasal emission. In conclusion, even small fistulas can influence speech production and should be considered before any treatment is planned. The study lends support to early closure of oronasal fistulas, particularly before pharyngeal flap surgery is contemplated.

• Speech Sciences
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.193-202
• /
• 2002

The purpose of this study is to examine the phonological awareness of hearing impaired children. A number of researches indicate that hearing impaired children have articulation disorders due to their impaired auditory feedback. However, in children who have the ability to distinguish certain phonemes, they sometimes show misarticulation of the phonemes. Phonological awareness refers to recognizing the speech-sound units and their forms in spoken language (Hong, 2001). The subjects who participated in the experiment are composed of four hearing impaired children (3 cochlear implanted children and 1 hearing aided child). Phonological Awareness was evaluated by the test battery developed by Paik et al. (2001). The subtests consisted of rhyme matching, onset matching I II, word initial segmentation and matching I II. If the children asked for retelling, it was retold to a maximum of 4 times. Each item score was 1 point. The results were compared to those of Paik et al. (2001). The results of study were that subject 1 showed superior rhyme matching ability, subjects 2 and 3 fair ability, and subject 4 inferior ability. In onset matching I, all subjects showed inferior ability except for subject 3. Interestingly, subjects 1 showed the lowest onset matching I score. In word initial segmentation and matching I, subjects 1 and 4 showed inferior ability and subjects 2 and 3 showed fair ability. In onset matching II, subject 2 showed the perfect score 10 even though she showed very low score. In word initial segmentation and matching II, only subjects 2 and 3 showed appropriate levels of the skill. The results show that the phonological awareness of hearing impaired children is different from that of normal children.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.73-79
• /
• 2014

Alveolar fricative sounds /s/ and /s'/ are learned last for normal children in the speech development process for Koreans. These are especially difficult to articulate for hearing-impaired children often causing articulation errors. The acoustic phonetic evaluation uses testing tools to provide indirect and object information. These objective resources can be compared with standardized resources on speech when interpreting the results of a test. However, most previous studies in Korea did not consider acoustic studies that used the spectrum moment values of hearing-impaired children. Therefore, this study was conducted to compare the characteristics of hearing-impaired children's pronunciation of fricative sounds using spectrum moment values. For this purpose, the study selected a total of 10 hearing-impaired children (5 boys and 5 girls) currently in 3rd or 5th grade and attending one of the elementary schools in Seoul or Gyeonggi-do. For the selection process, their age, type of hearing aid, implantation of hearing aid (CI) before two years of age, hearing capacity (dB) before and after wearing the hearing aid, duration of speech rehabilitation, and time of learning alveolar fricative sounds were all considered. Also, 10 normal children (5 boys and 5 girls) were selected among 3rd or 5th grade students attending one of the elementary schools in Seoul or Gyeonggi-do. The subjects were asked to read the carrier sentence, "I say _______," including a list of 12 meaningless syllables composed of CV and VCV syllables, including alveolar fricative sounds /s/ and /s'/ and vowels /a/, /i/, and /u/. The recorded resources were processed through the Time-frequency Analysis Software Program to measure M1 (mean), M2 (variance), M3 (skewness), and M4 (kurtosis) of the fricative noise. No significant differences were found when comparing spectrum threshold values in the acoustic phonetic characteristics of hearing-impaired children and normal children in alveolar fricative sound pronunciation according to vowels /a/, /i/, and /u/, alveolar fricative sounds /s/ and /s'/, and syllable structure (CV, VCV) other than, for M3 in the comparison of groups according to disability. In the comparison of syllable structures, there were statistically significant differences in M1, M2, M3, and M4 with clinical significance. However, there was no significant difference in results when comparing the alveolar fricative sounds according to the vowels.

• Speech Sciences
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.41-58
• /
• 2003

Coronal/non-coronal asymmetry refers to the typological trend wherein coronals rather than non-coronals are more likely targets in place assimilation. Although the phenomenon has been accounted for by resorting to the notion of unmarkedness in formalistic approaches to sound patterns, the examination of rules and representations cannot answer why there should be such a process in the first place. Furthermore, the motivation of coronal/non-coronal asymmetry has remained controversial to date even in the field of phonetics. The present study investigated the listeners' perception of coronal and non-coronal stops in the context of $VC_{1}C_{2}V$ after critically reviewing the three types of phonetic accounts for coronal/non-coronal asymmetry, i.e., articulatory, perceptual, and gestural overlap accounts. An experiment was conducted to test whether the phenomenon in question may occur, given the listeners' lack of perceptual ability to identify weaker place cues in VC transitions as argued by Ohala (1990), i.e., coronals have weak place cues that cause listeners' misperception. 5pliced nonsense $VC_{1}C_{2}V$ utterances were given to 20 native speakers of English and Korean. Data analysis showed that majority of the subjects reported $C_{2}\;as\;C_{1}$. More importantly, the place of articulation of C1 did not affect the listeners' identification. Compared to non-coronals, coronals did not show a significantly lower rate of correct identifications. This study challenges the view that coronal/non-coronal asymmetry is attributable to the weak place cues of coronals, providing evidence that CV cues are more perceptually salient than VC cues. While perceptual saliency account may explain the frequent occurrence of regressive assimilation across languages, it cannot be extended to coronal/non-coronal asymmetry.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.30 no.5
• /
• pp.295-302
• /
• 2011

The purpose of this study was to develop Korean Consonant Perception Test (KCPT), that is a phonemic level including elementary data to evaluate speech and consonant perception ability of the normal and the hearing impaired qualitatively and quantitatively. KCPT was completed with meaningful monosyllabic words out of possible all Korean monosyllabic words, considering articulation characteristics, the degree of difficulty, and the frequency of the phonemic appearance, after assembling a tentative initial and final consonants testing items using four multiple-choice method which were applied to the seven final consonant regulation and controlled with the familiarity of the target words. Conclusively, the final three hundred items were developed including two- and one-hundred items for initial and final testing items, respectively, with the evaluation of the 20 normal hearing adults. Through this process, the final KCPT was composed upon the colloquial frequency following identification of no speakers' variances statistically and elimination of the highly difficult items. The 30 hearing impaired were tested with KCPT and found that the half lists, A and B, were not different statistically and the initial and final testing items were appropriate for evaluating initial and final consonants, respectively.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.113-122
• /
• 1995

This paper describes characteristics of a bone conduction telephone which was developed for conductive hearing impaired persons to call without additional devices and results of its performance test. Not only the hearing impaired but also normal hearing persons can use this telephone because we developed a bone conduction vibrator with which they can perceive speech signal using functions of air conductive hearing as well as bone conductive hearing. It also has tone control function compensating hearing losses for the hearing impaired originating from their hearing characteristics, and using this function together with received volume control it has received volume range of 20dB in loudness rating, which is similar effect as what a telephone set with built-in received amplifier has. From results of articulation and intelligibility tests for 19 hearing impaired persons, we can see that if their bone-conduction hearing loss is 61dB or less, they can understand words or sentences and response well with this telephone.