Image and data analysis research and development

Our current principal instrumentation is ultrasound. In 2003 we were working with ultrasound systems such as the Mindray DP6600, a CRT system with VGA video output which we recorded in AAA and applied a fan grid approach to allow users to manually trace the tongue contour as best they could. This resulted in 42 data points that could then be analysed.

In 2005 we acquired an Ultrasonix RP research ultrasound which provided a hardware sync signal for every frame and full control over recoring parameters. Rather than video, the system provided raw scanline data which were recorded in AAA and then converted into an image. This was the first time hardware synchronised data free from video artifacts and with synchronisation accurate to less than a millisecond had been developed. When, in 2013 the Ultrasonix machine was no longer available we found an equivalent sytem provided by Telemed and integrated that system into AAA.  This is the popular system used by over 150 labs around the world today.

Semi-automated processing of ultrasound images from this system were developed. An edge tracking algorithm constrained by user defined upper an lower limits produced tongue contours which could then be adusted by hand if needs be.

In 2019, an experiment to test DeepLabCut ( software for tracking animal movement) as a method of ultrasound tongue contour estimation was successful. Development of this pose estimation technique has proceeded since then with at least three revisions of training data to produce increasingly accurate results. This provided for the first time, fully automatic estimation of not only tongue contour but also hyoid, short tendon and mandible (jaw) movement.

The novelty and accuracy of this technique is now of a level where new methods of data analysis can be developed.

We have developed the Glostrum and Glossogram, vocal tract equivalents of the acoustic spectrum and spectrogram. And Glossometric measures provide for the first time patterns an timings of parameters controlling shape and position of the tongue which are grounded in neurophysiology and motor control.