Raymond N. Linville

Development of a microportable imaging system for otoscopy and nasoendoscopy evaluations

Objective: Imaging systems for patients with cleft palate typically are not portable, but are essential to obtain an audiovisual record of nasoendoscopy and otoscopy procedures. Practitioners who evaluate patients in rural, remote, or otherwise medically underserved areas are expected to obtain audiovisual recordings of these procedures as part of standard clinical practice. Therefore, patients must travel substantial distances to medical facilities that have standard recording equipment. This project describes the specific components, strengths and weaknesses of an MPEG-4 digital recording system for otoscopy/nasoendoscopy evaluation of patients with cleft palate that is both portable and compatible with store-and-forward telemedicine applications. Materials: Three digital recording configurations (TabletPC, handheld digital video recorder, and an 8-mm digital camcorder) were used to record the audio/ video signal from an analog video scope system. Results: The handheld digital video recorder was most effective at capturing audio/video and displaying procedures in real time. The system described was particularly easy to use, because it required no postrecording file capture or compression for later review, transfer, and/or archiving. Conclusions: The handheld digital recording system was assembled from commercially available components. The portability and the telemedicine compatibility of the handheld digital video recorder offers a viable solution for the documentation of nasoendosocopy and otoscopy procedures in remote, rural, or other locations where reduced medical access precludes the use of larger component audio/video systems.

Lip and jaw movements during altered speaking rates

Previous research has shown that lip and jaw movements can vary dramatically with speaking rate. However, few studies have explored lip and jaw movements over a range of contrived speaking rates. The purpose of this investigation was to examine kinematically movement parameters associated with six different rates of speaking (1–6 s). The upper lip, lower lip, and jaw vertical amplitudes of a naive male speaker were transduced via a strain gauge system and recorded concurrent with the speakers utterances. Consonant‐vowel syllables composed of /m, p, k, w/ in combination with the vowels /i/ and /ae/ served as the speech sample. Desired rates of production were obtained by training the subject to synchronize his productions with an audiovisual timing device. The results demonstrated generally increased upper lip amplitudes and reduced jaw amplitudes as the rate of speaking increased. More importantly, lower lip velocity was observed to increase systematically from 1 to 3 s but decreased precipitously at 4 s,...

Interactions in the labial musculature during speech

Interactions in electromyographic activity of the upper and lower lips during speech were studied by manipulating the magnitude of bursts of activity related to bilabial closure. Four pairs of electrodes were placed in the labial musculature in each of four normal-speaking young adults. Manipulation of muscle activity usually resulted in positively correlated changes in activity recorded from the other three electrode pairs. Similar effects were found when lower lip muscle activity was manipulated and when upper lip muscle activity was manipulated, suggesting there is no asymmetry in the interactions between lips. Measurements of lower lip closing movement often correlated with the modulated muscle activity, suggesting that the size of lip opening was varied to accommodate different closing forces. The flexibility of a system producing positive correlations in the activity of different labial regions is discussed and contrasted with the suggestions that there are complementary variations, producing negative correlations, in the activity of different labial muscles during speech.

Temporal characteristics of repeated utterances

The purpose of this study was to develop a quantitative description of the temporal characteristics of repeated utterances. Movements of the lower lip, jaw and tongue tip were obtained during the production of /dɑb/, /pɑt/, /ɑb/, /bɑ/, /ib/, and /bi/ with strain gauge and cineradiographic techniques. Four subjects repeated each syllable in synchrony with clicks presented at 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, and 4.5 Hz. A second condition using a 10‐mm bite block was also employed to compare with jaw‐free productions. Additionally, cycle duration was defined as the period of time between successive opening movements. Each movement cycle was divided into four components: opening movement, open posture, closing movement, and closed posture. A multivariate regression design was used to show that as cycle duration varied there were temporal interactions between open and closed postures, and between opening and closing movements. Specifically, regression coefficients of open and closed postures demonstrated reciprocal relati...

Influences of the lower lip on upper‐lip movement during speech

Relations between parameters of lower‐lip movement and upper‐lip movement were investigated during. bilabial opening and closing gestures. Upper‐ and lower‐lip movements of five normal adults were transduced in the inferior‐superior dimension with a strain gauge system. Visual feedback of lower‐lip movement was employed to manipulate the displacement of the lower lip. Systematic modifications in upper‐lip movement were observed as a function of the variation in lower‐lip movement. The effects of lower‐lip movement on upper‐lip movement were larger when the jaw was fixed with a bite block. The temporal relations between lips were maintained at all lower‐lip displacements both with and without the bite block. These data will be discussed relative to acoustical, mechanical, and motor control factors that may influence the interactions between lips. [Work supported by NIH.]