The proposed development of an artificial palate for electro-palatography

Summary form only as given. Artificial palates used by speech therapists in electro-palatography suffer from a number of drawbacks. These include a lack of reliability, high level of skill and expertise required for manufacture, cost and short useful life. It is proposed to carry out research into new methods for making the devices, which will address these issues. The cast acrylic palate would be replaced by a laminated structure made by rapid prototyping methods. The individual discrete electrodes would be superseded by a continuous sensor, using fabricated semiconductor technology, which would detect sliding tongue contact as well as pressure. In preference to the conventional wiring loom to transmit the signals to a PC for processing and display, a micro-transmitter would be used. The palate itself should be able to be made and assembled by a single desk-top machine, which would also be capable of fitting the separately-made associated hardware (sensor, battery and transmitter). The design would be such that the hardware should be re-usable. Other potential applications of this technology include the tongue control of machinery