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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

palatometer, speech therapy, pronunciation, tongue

College

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology

Department

Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

The palatometer is a device previously designed by Dr. Sam Fletcher to aid in his work of speech therapy. The device consists of a series of sensors laid out on a grid that is attached to a mold of the user’s palate. As the user talks, the sensors react to the places where the tongue touches and sends a signal through wires to a processing chip, housed in a little black box. This black box is suspended around the user’s neck, and relays the data from the mouth to a computer that creates a digital representation of the sensor’s information on the screen. With this information, speech therapists can analyze the placement of the tongue and help improve pronunciation and speech. The Fletchers had already proven the device effective with test subjects; however, there was a problem holding back large scale use of the palatometer. My research team was put in charge of three main goals in helping to improve the palatometer: make the device wireless, comfortable, and cheaper to produce.

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