Articulation Assessment for Tongue Cancer Patients: Using Consonant Production Performance to Capture Speech...

Area of Science:

• Speech-Language Pathology
• Oncology
• Otolaryngology

Background:

• Tongue cancer (TC) significantly impacts speech production.
• Postoperative speech disorders are common in TC patients.
• Accurate assessment of articulation deficits is crucial for rehabilitation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze postoperative consonant errors in tongue cancer patients.
• To investigate correlations between pathological factors and speech performance.
• To evaluate the utility of the Consonant-based Articulation Assessment Battery (CAAB).

Main Methods:

• 57 monolingual Mandarin TC patients participated post-surgery.
• Participants pronounced characters from the CAAB for articulation assessment.
• Speech samples were analyzed, excluding dialect-influenced responses.

Main Results:

• A significant correlation exists between pathological factors (resection size/site, tumor size) and consonant articulation accuracy.
• Tongue damage primarily affects the place of articulation (63.85%) over manner (20.78%).
• Anterior tongue damage has the most significant impact on consonant production.

Conclusions:

• CAAB effectively captures unique speech characteristics in TC patients.
• Articulation deficits in TC differ from other speech disorders (e.g., cleft lip/palate).
• CAAB is a valuable tool for assessing speech disorders from stomatognathic damage and can guide surgical planning and rehabilitation.