Compensatory articulation patterns of a surgically treated oral cancer patient

Acoustic, physiologic, and perceptual data on articulation of bilabial and alveolar stop consonants in CVC words spoken by a subject with a 20% glossectomy, 2/3-mandibulectomy and radical neck dissection, whose surgical closure was accomplished by suturing the tongue to the floor of the mouth and buccal mucosa are provided. Compensatory articulation patterns were identified from tracings of vocal tract shapes obtained by videofluoroscopy. Acoustic analysis was accomplished by means of computer-aided examination of the speech waveform. Compensatory postures for articulation of the stop consonants were characterized by varying degrees of labial protrusion and retraction, dependent on the vowel context. Distinction between the bilabial and tip-alveolar consonants was evidenced in lingual-velar closure vs. lingual-velar-palatal closure. These compensatory patterns are discussed in relation to the acoustic properties of the corresponding speech sounds obtained from synthetic speech samples and in relation to perceptual data obtained from trained listeners.