Modeling Asymmetrical Movements of Normal and Pathological Tongue

Simulation techniques using 2D or 3D tongue models have been adopted in investigating mechanisms of speech production. However, large asymmetric deformations of the tongue have not been challenged yet for both normal and pathologic cases. In this study, a full 3D tongue model was constructed by extending an existing partial 3D model, and it is used to perform large asymmetric 3D deformations to generate tongue gestures with bending and torsion. Furthermore, simulations of a hemi-laterally reconstructed tongue demonstrated tongue protrusion with a bending motion, as often observed in real pathological cases. These results confirmed that the proposed tongue model performed behaviors of normal and pathological tongues and that this model can be a useful tool for the study of speech disorders with pathology of the tongue.