Computerized measurement of tongue dorsum movements with pulsed-echo ultrasound.

A computerized system for the measurement of tongue dorsum movements with pulsed echo ultrasound is described. The presentation focuses on technical and methodological considerations in the on-line acquisition of vertical tongue movement information, its digital processing and display. Problems associated with transducer placement, peak detection, data averaging, and curve fitting are considered, and validation procedures based on x ray and indicators of measurement reliability are reported. The discussion centers on advantages and disadvantages of the technique and its applications.