Articulatory Contact Pressure during Bilabial Plosive Production in Esophageal and Tracheoesophageal Speech.

OBJECTIVES

The present study investigated the articulatory contact pressure during the production of bilabial plosives by esophageal (ES), tracheoesophageal (TE), and laryngeal speakers.

METHODS

The peak contact pressure (PCP) during bilabial plosive production of /CVCVCVCVCV/ syllable strings of /p/ and /ph/ was obtained from 10 ES, 10 TE, and 10 laryngeal speakers of Cantonese. PCP values were obtained by using a pressure transduction system (Iowa Oral Performance Instrument) during speech production.

RESULTS

The results showed that ES speakers exhibited a significantly greater PCP value than TE and laryngeal speakers, as revealed by cheek muscle compression force. In addition, the unaspirated bilabial plosive /p/ was associated with a greater PCP than its aspirated counterpart /ph/.

CONCLUSION

The current findings might support the hypothesis of over-exaggerated speech for better intelligibility among alaryngeal speakers. In addition, the increased oral muscular effort could be associated with a compensatory strategy for maintaining a high intraoral pressure or the unique air intake by ES speakers.