Electropalatography: thermo-formed pseudopalates and the use of three-dimensional display

Electropalatography provides a method of recording contact of the tongue against the palate; this has valuable potential in linguistics, phonetics, speech therapy, oral physiology and dentistry. The application of the technique has been limited by the time required to produce a plate (pseudopalate) carrying electrodes for each person studied. The bulk of an acrylic plate also imposes some interference with speech. A simple, relatively fast, method of producing very thin plates is described. The use of models to provide three-dimensional display is illustrated and the value of slow speed play-back of data is discussed.