Chao-Min Wu
Biomed. Eng. Ctr., Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH 43210
ATR Human Inf. Process. Res. Labs., Kyoto, Japan
Reiner Wilhelms-Tricarico
MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139
The goal of this research is to obtain a three-dimensional (3-D) tongue structural model as a reference placement for dynamic simulations of the tongue during speech articulation. The tongue structural model adapted to each individual's anatomy will be developed by integrating tongue shape information from MRI scans and anatomical drawings to form an anatomical model. The data structure of this model will be a finite element mesh. Interactive programs written in matlab are developed to (i) manually extract tissue boundary information from MRI data of the tongue and other oral structure, (ii) combine this information with the anatomical drawings of cross sections of the human tongue to form an anatomical model, and (iii) fit a basic finite element model (topological model) to the anatomical model to form the tongue structural model for a sample vowel gesture of each subject. Both processes (ii) and (iii) will be achieved by a method of 3-D nonuniform geometrical mapping using a generalized thin-plate spline mapping. Two tongue structural models (one for a Caucasian native American male and another for an Asian native Japanese male) will be built, using MRI data obtained during a sustained vowel production. [Work supported in part by a NSF grant to Dr. O. Fujimura.]