Articulatory clarity and variability before and after surgery for tongue cancer

2025-07-04

AI Summary

This study investigates the long-term impact of glossectomy on speech intelligibility and articulatory variability in tongue cancer patients. To quantify vowel production, we employed two acoustic metrics—Vowel Articulation Index (VAI) and Vowel Formant Dispersion (VFD)—in conjunction with sentence-reading tasks and acoustic modeling, conducting longitudinal comparisons among preoperative, 6-month postoperative, and healthy control groups. This work represents the first application of combined VAI and VFD analysis to assess post-glossectomy speech changes. Results show that VAI remained within normal limits, indicating preserved overall intelligibility; however, VFD for the /i/ vowel increased significantly postoperatively (p < 0.05), reflecting reduced articulatory stability and heightened inter-trial variability. These findings reveal a previously underrecognized “intelligible but unstable” speech impairment following tongue resection, underscoring the need for refined clinical assessment protocols and targeted articulatory stabilization interventions in speech rehabilitation.

Technology Category

• Natural Language Processing: Speech
• Computer Vision: Language and Vision
• Machine Learning: Calibration & Uncertainty Quantification

Application Category

• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Robustness and generalizability of Web mining methods
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Metrics for user behavior and evaluating success
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Web evaluation methodologies and metrics

Abstract

Surgical treatment for tongue cancer can negatively affect the mobility and musculature of the tongue, which can influence articulatory clarity and variability. In this study, we investigated articulatory clarity through the vowel articulation index (VAI) and variability through vowel formant dispersion (VFD). Using a sentence reading task, we assessed 11 individuals pre and six months post tongue cancer surgery, alongside 11 sex- and age matched typical speakers. Our results show that while the VAI was significantly smaller post-surgery compared to pre-surgery, there was no significant difference between patients and typical speakers at either time point. Post-surgery, speakers had higher VFD values for /i/ compared to pre-surgery and typical speakers, signalling higher variability. Taken together, our results suggest that while articulatory clarity remained within typical ranges following surgery for tongue cancer for the speakers in our study, articulatory variability increased.

Problem

• Assess impact of tongue cancer surgery on articulatory clarity
• Compare vowel articulation pre- and post-surgery with typical speakers
• Measure articulatory variability changes after tongue cancer surgery

Innovation

• Used vowel articulation index (VAI)
• Measured vowel formant dispersion (VFD)
• Assessed pre/post-surgery via reading tasks