title: Automatic quantification of speech intelligibility in patients after treatment for oral squamous cell carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Treatment of oral carcinomas often causes reduced speech intelligibility. It was the aim of this study to objectively evaluate the speech intelligibility of patients after multimodal therapy for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) with a computer-based, automatic speech recognition system.
  
  
  METHODS
  The speech intelligibility of 59 patients after multimodal tumor treatment for OSCC, located at the lateral tongue, floor of the mouth, or the alveolar crest of the lower jaw, was objectively analyzed by a computer-based speech recognition system that calculates the percentage of correct word recognition (WR).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The patients' WR was significantly reduced compared with a healthy control group without speech impairment (P ≤ .001). Higher T-classification was associated with a reduced WR (P < .01). Tumors located at the tongue showed a significantly higher WR than tumors at the floor of the mouth or the alveolar crest (P ≤ .001). Surgical resection and reconstruction of the lower jaw bone significantly reduced the WR (P ≤ .001) compared with cases without osseous tumor infiltration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Speech intelligibility after treatment for OSCC, objectively quantified by a standardized automatic speech recognition system, is reduced for increasing tumor size, increasing resection volume, and tumor localization near the lower jaw. Surgical reconstruction techniques seem to have an impact on speech intelligibility.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany. Florian.Stelzle@uk-erlangen.de
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Stelzle
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maier
authors.forename: Elmar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nöth
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bocklet
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Knipfer
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schuster
authors.forename: Friedrich Wilhelm
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Neukam
authors.forename: Emeka
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nkenke
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000541:Alveolectomy / Q000379:methods; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000601:surgery*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008334:Mandible / Q000601:surgery; D008339:Mandibular Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D009060:Mouth Floor / Q000601:surgery; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D037981:Neck Dissection; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures; D013065:Speech Intelligibility / Q000502:physiology*; D049250:Speech Recognition Software; D013070:Speech Therapy; D013524:Surgical Flaps; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D055815:Young Adult