Ultrasound tongue imaging

Ultrasound has been used as a diagnostic medical tool since 1956. In 1969 Kelsey, Minifie and Hixon proposed using ultrasound to image the tongue (Ultrasound Tongue Imaging: UTI) as a safer alternative to x-ray imaging for viewing the articulators in both typical and disordered speech production. UTI is an instrumental articulatory technique that can be used to view and record movements of the surface of the tongue from the root to near the tongue tip. This chapter will describe ultrasound equipment and analysis followed by an overview of the type of speech errors which can be viewed with UTI.