Statistical evaluation of tongue capability with visual feedback.
Veronica Bratland, Kyle Coda, Mohamad Merei and 4 others
PMID 38166962WHAT IT FOUND
In 32 unimpaired adults, visual feedback during a tongue tracking task made movement patterns more similar between people and covered a larger area.
This allowed the creation of a reference map for normal tongue capability, but the study did not test patients or clinical outcomes.
Key findings
01Visual feedback increased inter-subject similarity in tongue position movements, making patterns more consistent across participants.
02Participants receiving visual feedback explored a 22% larger coverage area and produced more uniform movement distributions compared to those without feedback.
03A capability reference for unimpaired tongue movement was generated using data from the visual feedback group, which showed higher prediction scores than the no-feedback group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study included only unimpaired young adults (mean age 24.6 years), so the reference may not apply to older adults or those with speech or swallowing disorders. The task was a free-exploration of the tongue tip on a flat surface, which does not reflect functional movements used in speech or swallowing. The study did not test patients or clinical outcomes, so it provides no evidence that this method improves diagnosis or therapy. The device and reference are specific to the planar Tongue-Trackpad used in this study and may not generalize to other devices or curvilinear palate shapes.
Declared interests
The Tongue-Trackpad device was developed by the authors' group. No other specific funding or conflicts of interest are declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret this as evidence that visual feedback improves tongue function in patients. The study was conducted on healthy adults performing a non-functional tracking task, and no clinical outcomes or patient populations were assessed.