Atlas-Based Tongue Muscle Correlation Analysis From Tagged and High-Resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Abstract

Purpose Intrinsic and extrinsic tongue muscles in healthy and diseased populations vary both in their intra- and intersubject behaviors during speech. Identifying coordination patterns among various tongue muscles can provide insights into speech motor control and help in developing new therapeutic and rehabilitative strategies. Method We present a method to analyze multisubject tongue muscle correlation using motion patterns in speech sound production. Motion of muscles is captured using tagged magnetic resonance imaging and computed using a phase-based deformation extraction algorithm. After being assembled in a common atlas space, motions from multiple subjects are extracted at each individual muscle location based on a manually labeled mask using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging and a vocal tract atlas. Motion correlation between each muscle pair is computed within each labeled region. The analysis is performed on a population of 16 control subjects and 3 post–partial glossectomy patients. Results The floor-of-mouth (FOM) muscles show reduced correlation comparing to the internal tongue muscles. Patients present a higher amount of overall correlation between all muscles and exercise en bloc movements. Conclusions Correlation matrices in the atlas space show the coordination of tongue muscles in speech sound production. The FOM muscles are weakly correlated with the internal tongue muscles. Patients tend to use FOM muscles more than controls to compensate for their postsurgery function loss.

Quantitative imaging of tongue kinematics during infant feeding and adult swallowing reveals highly conserved patterns

“…The tongue muscle is an active organ in the oral cavity with crucial roles in feeding, speech, and breathing (Matsuo & Palmer, 2008; Stone et al, 2018; Xing et al, 2019). It is an intrinsic skeletal muscle with the origin and insertion at the same point in the root.…”

Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Role of the Diaphragm

“…SL interdigitates with PG and with the outermost fibers of the HG; their connection allows for lateral lingual movement and retrusion [84]. The contraction of the SL allows the tongue to manage length during different actions [85]. The inferior longitudinal muscle (IL) has a close relationship with the lateral portion of the HG; both are coordinated by a dorsiflexion movement while, if IL is specifically activated, it is able to pull the lingual apex toward the posteriority and inferiority [84].…”

“…The inferior longitudinal muscle (IL) has a close relationship with the lateral portion of the HG; both are coordinated by a dorsiflexion movement while, if IL is specifically activated, it is able to pull the lingual apex toward the posteriority and inferiority [84]. The fibers of the transversalis muscle (TV) control the thickness of the tongue and, in coordination with HG and PG, are activated by lateral retraction of the tongue [84,85]. The fibers of the verticalis muscle (V) are able to flatten the tongue laterally, to the right or to the left, and control the height of the tongue [84,85].…”

“…The fibers of the transversalis muscle (TV) control the thickness of the tongue and, in coordination with HG and PG, are activated by lateral retraction of the tongue [84,85]. The fibers of the verticalis muscle (V) are able to flatten the tongue laterally, to the right or to the left, and control the height of the tongue [84,85]. The tongue is considered a muscular hydrostat, that is, it not only keeps the volume constant, but the different movements carried out in the different functions are the result of the intervention of all the muscles that make up the tongue, in a percentage that is not synchronous [86].…”

“…HG is activated in the phases of inspiration (animal model) [92]. In coordination with SG, it retracts the tongue, while activated alone and to the side, it depresses the lateral lingual portion [85,89]. The HG muscle is a thin district but interdigitates with all the muscles of the tongue [89].…”