ISRL uses a variety of tools to carry out its research, allowing researchers to investigate the different ways our bodies produce speech. Through these tools, researchers can examine the movements and processes involved in speech production, exploring how our bodies contribute to communication. This work helps advance our understanding of the relationship between the body and speech!
LAB EQUIPMENT
Ultrasound
The ultrasound is an important tool used at the ISRL to visualize the tongue and tongue muscles. The lab carries two portable ultrasounds, both serving slightly different purposes!
Surface Electromyography (sEMG)
Surface electromyography (sEMG) measures the electrical activity of muscles using sensors placed on the skin, helping researchers study how muscles work during speech and other movements.
Intraoral Dental Scanner
The intraoral dental scanner is a new addition to the ISRL! The intraoral dental scanner creates detailed 3D images of the teeth and palate, allowing us to study its shape and structure and investigate how palatal anatomy may influence speech production.
SOFTWARE
Praat is a free software program used to analyze speech sounds. Researchers use it to visualize and measure acoustic properties of speech, such as pitch, duration, and formant frequencies, helping them investigate how speech is produced and perceived.
ImageJ is a 2D image-processing program used to display, annotate, edit, measure, and analyze scientific images. In linguistic research, it can be used to combine multiple images into stacks for visualization and analysis, helping researchers investigate the movements of structures involved in speech production, such as the tongue and vocal folds.
OpenFace is an open-source toolkit used for facial landmark detection, facial action unit recognition, and eye-gaze tracking. In sociolinguistic and speech research, it can be used to analyze facial behaviour and quantify facial movements, helping researchers investigate how facial expressions and muscle activity relate to speech production and communication.
ArtiSynth is an open-source, 3D biomechanical modelling and simulation platform developed at UBC. It allows researchers to model and simulate the movement and interaction of anatomical structures, helping investigate how the tongue, jaw, and vocal tract work together during speech production.
DeepEdge is an AI-powered tool for medical image processing, designed to automatically detect and track tongue contours in ultrasound images. In speech research, it helps researchers analyze tongue shape and movement during speech production.
The Montreal Forced Aligner (MFA) is an open-source tool that automatically aligns audio recordings with their corresponding transcripts, generating timestamps for individual words and speech sounds. In linguistic research, it helps researchers analyze speech data by identifying when specific words and sounds occur in a recording. Its output can also be imported into programs such as Praat for further analysis.
Articulate Assistant Advanced (AAA)
Articulate Assistant Advanced (AAA) is a software program used to analyze ultrasound and other imaging data of speech production. It allows researchers to visualize and measure tongue movements during speech, helping investigate how the tongue moves to produce different speech sounds.