PHONETICS

Introduction Speech production

Classification of Methods of speech

Speech sounds analysis

CONTENTS
Prosthodontic
Conclusion
considerations

Presentation Title
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INTRODUCTION
• Speech is a very sophisticated, autonomous and unconscious activity. Its production involves
neural, muscular, mechanical, aerodynamic, acoustic and auditory factors.
• As Oro-dental morphological features influence speech, the dentist should therefore recognize
the role of prosthetic treatment on speech activity.
• Phonetics, the production of speech sounds can be used as a guide to the positions of teeth.

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SPEECH PRODUCTION
• Controlling the airstream that is initiated
in the lungs and passes through the larynx
and vocal cords produces the speech
sounds.

• Subtle adjustments in air flow contribute

to variations of pitch and intensity of
voice.

• The structural controls for speech sounds

are the various articulators or valves made
in the pharynx and the oral and nasal
cavities.

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• Because nearly all speech sounds are emitted
from the mouth, the nasopharynx is closed off
from the oropharynx during speech.

• Closure is performed by an upward lift of the

soft palate.

• A rapid, continuous movement of the entire

length of the soft palate takes place during
speech.

• As the outgoing air passes through the mouth,

the tongue, lips and mandibular oscillations
modify it.

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• ROTHMAN – lists the following essential mechanisms of speech production

INITIATOR – Motor speech area of the brain and nerve pathways which convey the motor
speech impulses to speech organ

MOTOR – Lungs and associated musculature which supply the breath

VIBRATOR – Vocal cords which give pitch to the tone

RESONATORS – Oral, nasal and pharyngeal cavities intensify and enrich the sound

ENUNCIATORS/ ARTICULATORS – Lips, tongue, soft palate, hard palate and teeth add
distinctness and articulation to the speech sounds

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ARTICULATORS
Any vocal organ that takes part in the
production of a speech sound

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CLASSIFICATION OF SPEECH SOUNDS
VOICELESS SPEECH SOUNDS (CREATED BY AIR
ALONE)

FRICATIVES ( s, sh, th, f) PLOSIVES ( p, t, k) AFFRICATIVES (ch)

VOICE SPEECH SOUNDS (CREATED BY LARYNGEALLY

PRODUCED NOISE)

VOWELS (a, e, i, o, u) CONSONANTS

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 PALATOLINGUAL ( s, t, d, n,
l)

LINGUODENTAL (th)

ANATOMIC SOUND
FORMATION LABIODENTAL (f, v)

BILABIAL (b, p, m)

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PLOSIVES/ STOPS

Produced by stopping the airflow in the

vocal tract and releasing the air in an
explosive way

p, t, k

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FRICATIVES

When air is squeezed through the nearly

obstructed articulators
s, sh, th, f

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AFFRICATIVES

A mix between plosive and fricative

ch, sh, s

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NASALS

Produced without oral exit of air

m, n, ng

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LIQUIDS

Produced without friction

‘r’

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GLIDES

Produced by gradually changing articulator

shape

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BILABIAL SOUNDS
• Contact of the lips
• b, p, m
• In b and p, air pressure is built up behind the lips
and released with or without a voice sound

• Insufficient support of the lips by the teeth or the

denture base can cause these sounds to be
defective. Therefore the A-P position of the
anterior teeth and thickness of the labial flange
can affect the production of these sounds.
• An incorrect VDO or teeth positioning hindering
proper lip closure might influence these sounds
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LABIODENTAL SOUNDS

• f, v
• Between the upper incisors and the
labiolingual centre to the posterior third of
the lower lip

If the upper anterior teeth are

If the upper anterior teeth are
too long, the f sound will be
too short, the v sound will be
more like
more like an f
v

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LINGUODENTAL
• th
• Tip of the tongue extending slightly between the upper and lower anterior teeth
• Sound is actually made closer to the alveolus than to the tip of the teeth

If about 3 mm of the tip of the

tongue is not visible -
anterior teeth are probably too
far forward or excess vertical
overlap

If more than 6 mm of the

tongue extends out –
anterior teeth are too far
lingual

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LINGUO ALVEOLAR
ALVEOLAR SOUNDS
 t, d, s, z, n and t
 Produced by the valve formed by contact of the tip of the tongue with the most anterior part of
the palate or the lingual side of the anterior teeth

SIBILANTS AND AFFRICATIVES

 s, z, sh, ch and j
 The tongue and alveolus form the controlling valve
 The upper and lower incisors should approach end to end but not touch

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If teeth too far lingually – t will If teeth too far labially – d will
sound like d sound like t

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 PHONETIC PROPERTIES OF ‘S’ SOUND

ACOUSTIC CHARACTERISTICS
• The comparatively strong sound energy is
ARTICULATORY CHARACTERISTICS concentrated to a high-frequency range, with a steep
• The tip of the tongue is placed far forward, energy cutoff at about 3 to 4 kHz
coming close to but never touch the upper front
incisors
• A sagittal groove is made in the upper front part
of the tongue, with a small cross-sectional area
• AUDITORY CHARACTERISTICS
The tongue dorsum is flat
• The sound is fairly loud, with a light, sharp
• Normally, the mandible will move forward and
(sibilant) quality
upward, with the teeth almost in contact
• The sound s can be considered dental and alveolar
speech sound because they are produced equally
well with two different tongue positions, but there
can be some variation even behind the alveolus

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LINGUOPALATAL AND LINGUOVELAR
SOUNDS
• The truly palatal sounds present less of a problem for dentures
• The velar sounds (k, g, ng) have no effect on dentures except when the posterior palatal
seal extension encroaches on the soft palate

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METHODS FOR SPEECH ANALYSIS

• Speech pathologist
• Valuable to do this before starting prosthodontic rehabilitation

KINEMATIC METHOD FOR

PERCEPTUAL / ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS MOVEMENT ANALYSIS
• Based on a broadband spectrogram • Includes such methods such as
recorded by a sonogram during the ultrasonics, x-ray mapping,
uttering of different phrases containing cineradiography, optoelectronic
key phrases articulatory movement tracking and
electropalatography (EPG)

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• EPG is used for registrations of tongue contact patterns during speech production and a
mapping of the contacts could be achieved

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PROSTHODONTIC
CONSIDERATIONS

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POSITIONING UPPER ANTERIOR
TEETH
• As briefed by Robinson, while pronouncing 5, 55, f, v sounds – incisal
edges of maxillary central incisors should touch the vermillion border
of lower lip. This is called as ‘f’ position
• Also f, v sounds determine the occlusal plane
• While pronouncing 3, 33, there should be enough space for the tip of
the tongue to protrude through the incisors
• While pronouncing ‘emma’, ‘Mississippi’ upper and lower teeth
should not contact

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POSITIONING LOWER ANTERIOR
TEETH
• Incisal edges of lower 4 incisors should be slightly lingual to the labial incisal edges of
the upper incisors with a space of 1 – 1.5mm while pronouncing ‘s’ and ‘z’.
This is called as ‘s’ position

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POSITIONING OF POSTERIOR TEETH

• Enough space should be provided for dorsum of the tongue to make contact with the
palatal surfaces of upper posterior teeth while pronouncing t, d, s, n, k, e sounds
• A cramped tongue space, especially in the premolar region, forces the dorsal surface of
the tongue to form too small an opening for the escape of air.
• The procedure for correction is to thicken the center of the palate so the tongue doesnot
have to extend up as far into the narrow palatal vault

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RECORDING MAXILLO-MANDIBULAR
RELATIONSHIP
• Silverman’s closest speaking space measures the vertical dimension as the patient says ‘s’
• Vertical dimension at rest measured by pronouncing ‘m’
• Clicking teeth in increased vertical dimension during ‘ch’, ‘j’, ‘s’, ‘z’ sounds

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DURING TRY-IN

• ‘33’ – Enough space between anterior teeth for thrust of tongue

• ‘emma’ – No contact of teeth
• ‘55’ – Incisal edge of the maxillary central incisor should contact the vermillion border of
the lower lip at the junction of the rough and smooth mucosa without tooth interference
posteriorly
• ‘Mississippi’ – No contact of teeth

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RELATED TO PALATAL THICKNESS

• According to Slaughter, smoothness of the denture gets disturbed and without producing
rugae at anterior part of hard palate, the tongue loses its capacity for orientation. This is
because while pronouncing palatolingual sounds, tongue must be placed firmly against
anterior part of the palate
• Thick border at PPS area or posterior edge finished as a square instead of chamfer can
also affect speech ( ‘i’, ’e’, ‘k’, ‘g’)

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SPEECH PROBLEMS AT THE TIME OF
DENTURE DELIVERY
2 reasons
 The tongue and lips interact in a different manner with wax (used during the trial stage)
compared with the finished dentures
 Copious salivary flow often associated with insertion of new dentures

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 WHISTLING (‘s’)
The anterior part of the tongue is LISPING (‘s’)
obstructed by the upper premolars The airspace is too small thus
making a groove too large for the the palatal part of the denture
escape of air must be made thinner

INDISTINCTIVE (‘th’, ‘t’)

INDISTINCTIVE (‘f’, ‘v’)
Inadequate inter-occlusal space or
Vertical or horizontal placement
the anterior teeth are too far
of upper incisors
lingual

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PROTOCOL FOR DIFFICULTIES
PERSIST FOR MORE THAN 2 – 4 WEEKS
• If the patient has a previous denture experience, compare the new one with the old to
diagnose possible differences of significance for speech production
• If on the other hand, a remaining natural dentition is to be converted into a complete
denture, a transfer of the original position of the natural teeth to the denture should
facilitate adaptation
• Have the patient’s hearing checked. An auditory deficit will prolong the adaptation period
and render it more difficult
• If the problem cannot be resolved by dental methods, then patient should be referred to a
speech pathologist

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CONCLUSIONS

• Speech difficulty as a sequel of oral rehabilitation with complete dentures is generally a

transient problem
• Therefore efforts should be made to avoid them by pretreatment records or assessment of
speech and provision of information to patients about likely initial deviations from
normal speech immediately after the oral rehabilitation

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Thank you