Dentures Fitted With Computer Sensors May Someday Improve Speech Among Denture Wearers
Scientists working at the TIMC lab near Grenoble, France have been fitting dentures with sensors for the purpose of better understanding how people use their tongue and teeth to talk. The scientists say that their research could ultimately make it possible to create false teeth, dentures and braces that interfere less with speech.
In the past this type of research has been conducted by attaching sensors to people’s teeth, or embedding them into an artificial palate. But both of these approaches interfered with speech and ultimately undermined the test. This new test avoids any interference with the normal generation of speech.
At this point, the research is fairly basic — the scientists working on the project have only explored how basic sounds are generated. But they hope to be able to use it to create devices that can generate more realistic human voices using computers and to create better dentures for Orlando and Central Florida residents that would have less impact on the patient’s ability to speak normally.