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Updated: Oct 13, 2025
Ultrasound Images of the Tongue: A Tutorial for Assessment and Remediation of Speech Sound Errors
Published on: January 3, 2017
Ultrasonic Imaging Investigation of Tongue Movement Patterns of Cleft-Related Lateralized and Palatalized
Mengxian Zhu1, Sheng Li, Guangchao Zhou
1Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, The Affiliated Stomatological Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Oral Diseasesm Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center of Stomatological Translational Medicine, Nanjing, China.
Objectives:
To explore the tongue movement patterns on Mandarin speaking children with repaired cleft palate with lateralized and palatalized misarticulation (LPM) using ultrasound imaging technique.
Methods:
A group of 20 subjects who were diagnosed with speech sound disorder after cleft palate repairment, and another group of 18 children with LPM were recruited. A group of 20 typical children were recruited as the control group. The ultrasonography was used to collect the articulation pattern of the 8 single vowels that are /a/, /o/, / ɘ/, /i/, /u/, /y/, /ɨ/, /ʉ/ in Mandarin Chinese. Various ultrasonic tongue parameters were analyzed from both sagittal and coronal planes.
Results:
Compared with the control group, coronal height of peak point, coronal tongue dorsum constraint index, sagittal peak point offset distance, sagittal distance between tongue tip and peak point, and sagittal tongue dorsum constraint index of /ɘ/,/i/, /y/ and /ɨ/ were significantly smaller in the cleft-related lateralized and palatalized group (CLP) and noncleft-related lateralized and palatalized group (NLP) ( P < 0.05). Compared with the noncleft-related later- alized and palatalized group and control group, sagittal peak point offset distance of the vowels /ɘ/ and /i/ was significant smaller in the cleft-related lateralized and palatalized group group ( P < 0.05).
Conclusions:
The ultrasound images on the children with cleft palate showed a midline elevation of the tongue and a significant apical constriction. The children with LPM showed a midline elevation at the coronal plane and anterior movement of the tongue high point at the sagittal plane. The apical vowels were more informative and accurate in indicating the features of LPM than other vowels.
