This study suggests that carbon fibre is less suitable for large-scale MRI applications owing to it causing severe RF shading. Further research is needed to establish the suitability of the flatbed for treatment planning using alternative sequences or whether an alternative carbon fibre composite for large-scale MRI applications or a design that can minimize shielding can be found.

Highlights A method to segment the vocal tract and articulators in MR images was developed. Median accuracy: Dice coefficient of 0.92; general Hausdorff distance of 5mm. Developed to facilitate quantitative analysis of the vocal tract and articulators. Intended for use in clinical and non-clinical studies of speech. A novel clinically relevant segmentation accuracy metric was also developed.