在說話器官中以舌頭為最重要，舌頭在口腔內的運動可以發出不同的母音和子音；但是對舌頭的瞭解仍停留在基本的味覺及肌肉的解剖構造無法對說話時的舌頭變形提出有效的量化基礎。本計畫的主要目的在利用空間轉換技術來建立磁振影像為基礎的立體舌頭圖譜，做為舌頭在正常與說話障礙機轉的影響以及舌頭之形態分析研究的基礎。兩年的研究計畫中，第一年的工作內容以蒐集相關方法、文獻、以及建立初期的磁振影像資料庫(無構音障礙之十六名大專青年、男女各半)，在研究發展上以確立磁振影像蒐集的步驟以及建立立體舌頭圖譜所需的影像登錄之空間轉換技術，並建立立體舌頭圖譜，其考量的重點是在運算的複雜性、準確度、及統計分析的可行性為主。 The tongue has been recognized to be the most important organ for the speech production process. Nevertheless, many reported studies of the tongue are either muscular anatomy oriented or related to the taste function. The main objective of this project is to build a MRI-based 3D tongue atlas with an established available spatial transformation technique. The 3D tongue atlas will be used as the basis for future research on tongue mophometrics and underlying physiological mechanism of normal and disordered speech production. The first year of the project will include literature search, MRI protocol and data acquisition -8 male and 8 female college students without speech disorders, and construction of the 3D tongue atlas with a selected suitable spatial transformation technique that is determined by its complexity, accuracy, and statistical capability.
