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Submental Muscle Tissue Compliance During Relaxation, Contraction, And After Tone-Modification Interventions, Heather M. Clark, Nancy Pearl Solomon

International Journal of Orofacial Myology and Myofunctional Therapy

Deviations in muscle tone are presumed to accompany speech motor control deficits in select forms of dysarthria, although there is little confirmation of these associations. For patients experiencing neuromuscular impairments, therapeutic interventions and/or principles have been devised to alleviate tone deviations where they occur and to prevent the development or exacerbation of tone deviations. Potentially therapeutic effects of these interventions on muscle tone in the speech musculature have not been studied empirically. One reason for the paucity of research is that tools for assessing muscle tone in the speech musculature are not generally available. This pilot study explored the feasibility …