Sensor-dentures reveal the secret life of tongues

By at 10:02 am Tuesday, May 20

A research program that fitted toothless volunteers with sensor-dentures has revealed previously hidden secrets of how the human tongue and teeth work together to form sound, promising new breakthroughs in artificial speech.

Knowing the pressure the tongue exerts on the teeth during some speech, for example when making a "T" sound, has been particularly difficult, says Payan. "This closure of the vocal tract allows you to pronounce this consonant," he explains. "To model this, you have to be able to estimate the level of force applied by the tongue."

Previous attempts to record those forces involved sticking sensors to people's teeth, or embedding them into an artificial palate. But both those approaches interfere with the normal workings of the tongue.

Instead, the French team hid their sensors inside dentures made for 20 volunteers who had already lost their teeth.

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Cory Doctorow

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