Intraoral Air Pressure Discrimination under Conditions of Partial and Complete Resistance

Abstract

This study assessed a sample of normal-speaking individuals’ ability to discriminate differences in their self-generated intraoral air pressures. Two conditions were employed: (1) open tube in which subjects had to sustain an expiratory breath stream to maintain the target pressure, and (2) closed tube in which there was complete resistance to the subjects’ breath stream. Analysis of variance revealed no significant difference (p > 0.05) in subjects’ ability to discriminate differences in their self-generated intraoral air pressure as a function of open or closed tube conditions. However, subjects’ discrimination scores significantly increased (p < 0.05) as the standard pressure was increased.