Adding a Therapeutic Touch
Understanding how the skin around the mouth affects speech perception could lead to new methods to treat speech disorders. Traditionally the focus in speech therapy has been on the auditory component, says David Ostry of McGill University, but the mechanical and tactile aspects are crucial, too. “The somatosensory inputs play a role in both guiding speech production and speech learning, and now it’s clear they play a role in auditory perception, too,” Ostry explains, referring to his recent experiments. “It really identifies them as a potential conduit for therapeutic interventions.” Speech therapies with tactile components could especially help patients who, because of hearing loss or other reasons, have trouble hearing their speech mistakes, he says.
Note: This article was originally published with the title, "A Real Stretch."
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3 Comments
Add CommentDon't know if there is any consonance between your article and my experience, but here goes: I used to feed bummer lambs and calves, not all of which had the sucking instinct down pat. I'd sometimes return to the house after chores with exhausted, sore facial muscles....I would have fashioned my mouth into the sucking shape and have "pumped" my lips to try to help those stupid lambs.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnother, nearly entirely unrelated observation: I figured out the male attraction for Betty Boop bimbos while feeding lambs. Betty, with her pursed lips, displays a suckling facial expression, presumably exciting men who want a submissive, vulnerable, infantilized woman.
No, the ewe lambs did not attract me.
The lips are supposed to pucker up when a woman wants to be kissed. Maybe Bety Boop just had a slight oral fixation
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn Parkinson's disease, the face eventually assumes a fixed stony staring position, with little or no use of the muscles of facial expression.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat these people hear might be worth investigating.