title: Videofluoroscopic investigation of body position on articulatory positioning.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To quantitatively examine the effects of body position on the positioning of the epiglottis, tongue, and velum at rest and during speech.
  
  
  METHODS
  Videofluoroscopic data were obtained from 12 healthy adults in the supine and upright positions at rest and during speech while the participants produced 12 VCV sequences. The effects of body position, target sounds, and adjacent sounds on structural positioning and vowel formant structure were investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Velar retropositioning in the supine position was the most consistent pattern observed at rest. During speech, all structures, with varying degrees of adjustment, appeared to work against the gravitational pull, resulting in no significant narrowing in the oro- and nasopharyngeal regions while in the supine position. Minimal differences in the formant data between the body positions were also observed. Overall, structural positioning was significantly dependent on the target and adjacent sounds regardless of body position.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study demonstrated that structural positioning in response to gravity varied across individuals based on the type of activities being performed. With varying degrees of positional adjustment across different structures, fairly consistent articulatory positioning in the anterior-posterior dimension was maintained in different body positions during speech.
authors.forename: Youkyung
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.forename: Jamie L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Perry
authors.forename: David P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Kuehn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004825:Epiglottis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D006112:Gravitation; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010160:Palate, Soft / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D056888:Patient Positioning / Q000379:methods*; D010779:Photofluorography / Q000379:methods*; D011187:Posture; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D014059:Tongue / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014741:Video Recording; D055815:Young Adult