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Influence of the major connector in a maxillary denture on phonetic function

Article · May 2011

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpor.2011.03.003 · Source: PubMed

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Journal of Prosthodontic Research 55 (2011) 234–242

www.elsevier.com/locate/jpor

Original article
Influence of the major connector in a maxillary denture on phonetic function
Junichiro Wada DDSa,*, Masayuki Hideshima DDS, PhDa, Shusuke Inukai DDS, PhDa,
Tomohiro Ando DDS, PhDa, Yoshimasa Igarashi DDS, PhDa, Hiroshi Matsuura PhDb
a
Removable Partial Denture Prosthodontics, Department of Masticatory Function Rehabilitation, Division of Oral Health Sciences,
Graduate School of Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
b
Graduate School of Administration & Informatics, University of Shizuoka, Shizuoka, Japan
Received 25 October 2010; received in revised form 24 February 2011; accepted 23 March 2011
Available online 23 May 2011

Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of the major connector in a maxillary denture.
Methods: Eight patients with sound dentition were recruited in this study. The experimental connectors were fabricated with Co–Cr. Two
positional designs were used: one was the middle type (M), and the other was the anterior and posterior type (AP). The six sounds, /shi/, /hi/, /chi/, /
ki/, /ri/, and /ni/, were chosen as the test sounds. Using a speech recognition system, the intelligibility, change and duration of the test sounds were
evaluated under three conditions: without connector (WO
C), with the M-type connector (W
M), and with the AP-type connector (W
AP).
Results: The intelligibility in WO
C and W
AP was 86.9  17.4% and 57.1  30.1% for /shi/, 79.2  19.7% and 70.5  27.0% for /hi/,
74.7  14.6% and 43.6  24.3% for /chi/, 54.4  16.5% and 23.2  17.8% for /ki/, 85.2  15.9% and 55.1  30.6% for /ri/, and 76.9  26.9%
and 50.2  31.3% for /ni/. Significant differences were recognized between WO
C and W
AP in /shi/, /chi/, /ki/ and /ri/(P < 0.01). The
intelligibility in W
M was higher than that in W
AP in all test sounds. As for incorrect labels, significant differences were recognized in the
appearance ratio of /hi/ as the incorrect label in the test sound /shi/ (P < 0.05). There were significant differences in some incorrect labels of /hi/ and
/chi/. As for duration of consonant part, there was no significant difference in each test sound.
Conclusion: It was indicated that the middle type of the major connector would be recommended from a viewpoint of phonetic function.
# 2011 Japan Prosthodontic Society. Published by Elsevier Ireland. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Phonetic function; Major connector; Speech recognition; Phonetic segment labels; Consonant part

1. Introduction cured denture base resin with a certain thickness [1–8]. In

Pronunciation is essential for human communication, and
phonetic function in partially and fully edentulous patients can
be dramatically improved by prosthetic treatment. However,
articulation can be disturbed with inappropriate dental
prostheses. One of the major factors affecting phonetic
function in wearers of partial dentures is the positioning of
the major connector.
Many studies have focused on the relationship between
phonetic function and the dental prosthesis used in these
devices, which are made with a light-cured base resin or heat-
addition, most of these studies have focused on the effects on
the palatogram and the sonagram and not on the sound itself
[6,9–14]. We developed a speech recognition system to
evaluate phonetic function [15–17]. Unlike with traditional
methods, the intelligibility, change, and duration of the
consonant parts of sounds can be evaluated accurately using
this system.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of
the major connector in a maxillary denture on the intelligibility,
change, and duration of consonant parts of six test sounds.
2. Materials and methods

* Corresponding author at: Removable Partial Denture Prosthodontics, De- 2.1. Subjects
partment of Masticatory Function Rehabilitation, Division of Oral Health
Sciences, Graduate School of Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45
Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8549, Japan. Tel.: +81 3 5803 5515;
Eight patients (four males and four females; mean age,
fax: +81 3 5803 5515. 43.0  16.7 years; range, 22–59 years) visiting the Student
E-mail address: wadajun.rpro@tmd.ac.jp (J. Wada). Clinic at the University Hospital, Tokyo Medical & Dental
1883-1958/$ – see front matter # 2011 Japan Prosthodontic Society. Published by Elsevier Ireland. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jpor.2011.03.003
 J. Wada et al. / Journal of Prosthodontic Research 55 (2011) 234–242 235

Fig. 1. Experimental major connectors. (a) The upper figure shows the six types of simulators of the preliminary experiment. (b) The middle figure shows the two
types of simulators of this study. (c) The lower figure shows the cross-sectional shapes of the simulators.

Table 1
Test sounds (include the vowel /i/, which requires the highest tongue position among the Japanese vowels) and test words (real Japanese words included the test sounds
that had the accent on the second mora).
Test sound /shi/ /hi/ /chi/ /ki/ /ri/ /ni/
Test word i/shi/kawa e/hi/meken i/chi/ro o/ki/nawa o/ri/gami ko/ni/shiki
The classification with articulation position Alveolars Velars Alveolars Palatals Alveolars Alveolars
The classification with articulation mechanism Fricative Fricative Affricate Plosive Rolled Nasals
The significance of bold letters are emphasize an object parts (test sound) of the test words.

University, who had normal occlusion with sound dentition,
were recruited as subjects.
All subjects were Japanese and had normal speech and
hearing. The experimental protocol was approved by the Ethics
Committee of Tokyo Medical & Dental University (No. 129).
Each subject received a written and verbal description of the
study, and informed consent was obtained from each individual
prior to enrollment.
2.2. Preliminary experiment
To determine the positional designs of experimental major
connectors, a preliminary experiment was conducted with 10
members of the medical staff with six different major
connectors. Experimental major connectors for the preliminary
experiment were fabricated in the form of light-cured resin
baseplates (Baseplate LC, CGK Co., Hiroshima, Japan). These
major connectors represented six different placement positions
on the palate: anterior (A), middle (M), posterior (P), anterior
and posterior (AP), horseshoe (H), and cross-running (C)
(Fig. 1). The thickness of the connector was 1.5 mm, and the
width was 5 mm. The test sounds were similar to those of this
study shown in Table 1. The result of the preliminary
experiment is shown in Table 2. In the preliminary experiment,
only the intelligibility of the test sounds was evaluated. From
the preliminary experiment, the connectors which had the
anterior bar, such as A, AP and, H, disturbed the articulations of
/shi/, /hi/, /chi/, and /ri/, whereas the connectors which had the
posterior bar, such as P and AP, disturbed the articulations of /
ki/ and /ni/. On the other hand, no significant difference was
found in the intelligibility of the six test sounds with M. Thus,
when the baseplate was used, the M-bar was thought to have the
least influence on the intelligibility of the test sounds, and the
AP-bar the greatest.
2.3. Positional designs of experimental major connectors
The devices with major connectors were fabricated with Co–
Cr (Shofu Co., Kyoto, Japan) on casts made from silicone
impressions of the subject’s maxillae. Based on the results of
the preliminary experiment, we chose the two representative
connectors expected to show significant differences between
them. Thus, major connectors were fabricated for two
positions: the M-bar and the AP-bar (Fig. 1).
The M-bar were constructed so that the midline of the
connector conformed to a straight line connecting the right and
236 J. Wada et al. / Journal of Prosthodontic Research 55 (2011) 234–242

Table 2
The intelligibility of the test sounds in the preliminary experiment.
Test sound Mean (%) (SD)
N (with no connector) A M P AP H C
/shi/ 91.4 (8.1) 53.9 (26.5) 87.3 (8.0) 77.1 (11.0) 66.3 (23.5) 59.8 (19.7) 77.5 (10.8)
/hi/ 72.4 (14.1) 38.3 (25.3) 68.3 (21.1) 73.0 (9.8) 40.5 (14.0) 48.8 (18.4) 62.5 (19.1)
/chi/ 63.0 (17.7) 31.4 (15.6) 58.1 (14.4) 51.5 (17.3) 31.6 (14.6) 30.7 (12.1) 38.7 (12.7)
/ki/ 76.8 (13.4) 70.8 (13.9) 66.1 (12.1) 48.1 (11.9) 45.5 (18.8) 58.1 (19.4) 61.2 (13.2)
/ri/ 99.5 (1.2) 70.6 (22.9) 94.6 (3.8) 81.5 (9.3) 64.6 (16.8) 80.8 (9.4) 79.0 (14.7)
/ni/ 91.4 (5.9) 71.0 (14.6) 84.8 (6.5) 53.8 (29.8) 40.9 (19.5) 60.5 (16.1) 61.6 (13.0)
The significance of bold values are emphasizes the 2 conditions that the influence of the connector was least and greatest.

left contact points of the second premolar and the first molar.
The width of the connector was 5 mm. The AP-bar consisted of
an anterior and a posterior connector. The anterior connector
was set to cover 5 mm in width from a smooth curve connecting
the lowest points of the tooth cervical margin between the right
and left canines. The posterior connector was constructed so
that the midline of the connector conformed to a straight line
connecting the right and left contact points of the first and
second molars. The width of the connector was 5 mm.
The retention of each experimental major connector was
secured by the undercut of the palatal surface of the tooth. The
thickness of the devices was 0.5 mm. Five duplicate devices of
each type of experimental major connector were produced for
each subject.
2.4. Recording of speech samples
The second moras, /shi/, /hi/, /ki/, /chi/, /ri/, and /ni/, of the
six test words, i/shi/kawa, e/hi/meken, o/ki/nawa, i/chi/ro, o/ri/
gami, and ko/ni/shiki were chosen as the six test sounds
(Table 1). These test sounds could be classified into the three
groups with articulation position: (1) alveolars: /shi/, /chi/, /ri/
and /ni/; (2) velars: /hi/; and (3) palatals: /ki/. They also could be
classified into the five groups with articulation mechanism: (1)
fricative: /shi/ and /hi/; (2) affricate: /chi/; (3) plosive: /ki/; (4)
rolled: /ri/; and (5) nasals: /ni/.
These sounds include the vowel /i/, which requires the highest
tongue position among the Japanese vowels. The six test words
were real Japanese words; these words included the test sounds
that had the accent on the second mora. Each subject was
instructed not to vocalize the test words before the recording.
There were three conditions: without connector (WO
C), with
the M-bar type connector (W
M), and with the AP-bar type
connector (W
AP). Each subject was required to pronounce a test
word five times under the above three conditions on the same
connectors, which were used only once. The order of conditions,
WO
C, W
M and W
AP, was random. The recordings were begun
as soon as it could be confirmed that the connectors were worn
stably. The small break-times were given every five recordings.
During measurements, the subjects were asked to maintain
their pronunciation at a constant speed and volume. Each sound
was recorded with a head-set-type microphone and a laptop
computer (PAC9214LDEW, Toshiba Co., Tokyo, Japan) and
analyzed using a speech recognition program.
2.5. Evaluation of intelligibility of the phonetic sounds
The speech evaluation system (Voice Analyzer, Toshiba
Digital Media Engineering Co., Tokyo, Japan) uses speech
recognition based on 213 types of integrated phonetic
segments that represent phonetic features and features of the
transition from one phoneme to another [15]. The system
performs micro-period (8 ms) evaluations on a frame-by-
frame basis and is therefore able to record time-scale
information. It also performs macro-period quantitative sound
evaluations using the ratio between the numbers of correct and
incorrect integrated phonetic segment labels during the
evaluation period.
The flow process of the phonetic function evaluation system
is shown in Fig. 2. The pattern is extracted from the power
spectrum and matched to the phonetic segment of the reference
pattern, and results are labeled and displayed. As an example,
the method of extraction of the test sound /shi/ from the test
word [i/shi/kawa] is shown in Fig. 3. The head of the /shi/sound
was the transition from /i/to/shi/, and the foot transition was
from /shi/to/ka/. Thus, the sections corresponding to /shi/ were
those between the head transition and the foot transition. The
vowel part of /shi/ was then removed, and the section was
defined as the ‘‘analysis sound.’’ The extractions of other test
sounds were accomplished in the same manner.
The meaning of the typical labels is shown in Table 3, and
classification of the correct and incorrect labels are shown in
Table 4. The integrated phonetic segment labels, which reflect
that the sound was pronounced correctly, are defined as
‘‘correct labels’’. All labels except for correct labels are defined
as ‘‘incorrect labels’’. The incorrect labels shown in Table 4
were especially tended to appear at higher rate than other
incorrect labels. The mean appearance ratio of the correct and
incorrect labels was computed from five replicated measure-
ments. The mean appearance ratio of the correct labels of the
test sounds was defined as ‘‘intelligibility’’.
2.6. Evaluation of duration of the consonant parts
In addition to intelligibility, the duration of the consonant
parts of the test sounds could be calculated. Because the each
segment label was 8 ms in terms of time, the duration of the
consonant part was worked out as the number of labels in the
sections by 8.
 J. Wada et al. / Journal of Prosthodontic Research 55 (2011) 234–242 237

Fig. 2. Schematic drawing of the acoustic analysis pattern and extraction of the phonetic segment labels.

Fig. 3. Flow-chart of extraction of the consonant part in/shi/.

2.7. Statistical analysis
The primary analysis was to determine the mean appearance
ratio of correct and incorrect labels and the average of the
duration obtained in the five tests for each subject. The
influences of the connectors on the appearance ratio of correct
and incorrect labels and the duration were evaluated by
repeated-measures one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and
Tukey’s multiple comparisons for post hoc multiple pairwise
comparisons. Statistical software (SPSS for Windows 11.5J,
238 J. Wada et al. / Journal of Prosthodontic Research 55 (2011) 234–242

Table 3 Table 4
Meaning of the phonetic segment labels. Classification of correct and incorrect labels of the test sounds.
Phonetic Meaning of the Sound represented The test sound Correct labels Incorrect labels
segment phonetic segment in phonetic segment
/shi/ $$ SS $I ## HH HI
$$ SS C /shi/ Fricative ZZ JI
$I T KI
CC CI
## HH C /hi/ Fricative
/hi/ ## HH HI $$ SS $I
HI T
KI
CC C /chi/ Affricate CC CI
CI T N9 NI
GG GI
KI T /ki/ Plosive
/chi/ CC CI $$ SS $I
RR C /ri/ Rolled ## HH HI
RI T ZZ JI
KI
N9 C /ni/ Nasals
/ki/ KI $$ SS $I
NI T
## HH HI
ZZ C /ji/ Fricative CC CI
JI T GG GI
/ri/ RR RI GG GI
GG C /gi/ Plosive
N9 NI
GI T
M9 MI
M9 C /mi/ Nasals /ni/ N9 NI GG GI
MI T RR RI
M9 MI
C: consonant; T: transitional

SPSS Japan, Inc., Tokyo, Japan) was used for the statistical
analysis, and P < 0.05 was considered significant, as that value
included P < 0.01.
3. Results
3.1. Intelligibility with three conditions of major
connectors
The Intelligibility with three conditions of major connectors
is shown in Fig. 4. The intelligibility of /shi/ in the word [i/shi/
kawa] in the eight subjects was 86.9  17.4%, 73.0  23.8%,
and 57.1  30.1% for WO
C, W
M, and W
AP, respectively.
There was a significant difference in the appearance ratios
between WO
C and W
AP (P < 0.01). The intelligibility of /hi /
in the word [e/hi/meken] was 79.2  19.7%, 81.9  16.8%,
and 70.5  27.0%, and there were no significant differences
among the three conditions. The intelligibility of /ki/ in the
word [o/ki/nawa] was 74.7  14.6%, 59.9  16.4%, and
43.6  24.3%, and significant differences were recognized
between WO
C and W
AP (P < 0.01), WO
C and W
M
(P < 0.05), and W
M and W
AP (P < 0.05). The intelligibility
of /chi/ in the word [i/chi/ro] was 54.4  16.5%, 53.2  18.4%,
and 23.2  17.8%, and significant differences were recognized
between WO
C and W
AP (P < 0.01), and W
M and W
AP
(P < 0.01). The intelligibility of /ri/ in the word [o/ri/gami] was
85.2  15.9%, 77.5  19.5%, and 55.1  30.6%, and a
significant difference was recognized between WO
C and
W
AP (P < 0.01). The intelligibility of /ni/ in the word [ko/ni/
shiki] was 76.9  26.9%, 73.3  24.0%, and 50.2  31.3%,
and no significant difference was recognized among them.
3.2. Appearance ratio of incorrect labels for three
conditions of major connectors
The mean appearance ratios of incorrect labels are shown
in Fig. 5. In the test sound /shi/, there were four incorrect
labels. The mean appearance ratio of the /hi/ was 0.6  1.2%,
14.4  17.6%, and 23.1  22.4%, for WO
C, W
M, and
W
AP, respectively. A significant difference was recognized
only between WO
C and W
AP (P < 0.05). In the test sound /
hi/, there were five incorrect labels. The mean appearance
ratios of /gi/ and /ni/ were the highest in W
AP. The mean
appearance ratio of the /gi/ was 3.4  3.0%, 2.3  2.2%, and
6.1  3.4%, for WO
C, W
M, and W
AP, respectively. A
significant difference between WO
C and W
AP was
recognized only in /gi/ (P < 0.05). In the test sound /chi/,
there were four incorrect labels. The mean appearance ratios
of the /ki/ were 3.6  6.0%, 5.3  7.6%, and 12.5  4.0%,
for WO
C, W
M, and W
AP, respectively. A significant
difference between WO
C and W
AP was recognized
(P < 0.05). There were four, three, and three incorrect labels
for the test sound /ki/, /ri/, and /ni/, respectively. There was no
significant difference in the incorrect labels of the three test
sounds, /ki/,/ri/, and /ni/.
3.3. Influence of the major connector on the duration of the
consonant parts
The evaluation of the duration of the consonant parts is
shown in Table 5. No statistically significant differences were
among three conditions, WO
C, W
M and W
AP, in the
evaluation of consonant duration.
 J. Wada et al. / Journal of Prosthodontic Research 55 (2011) 234–242 239

Fig. 4. The intelligibility of the test sounds. The significant differences between WOC and WAP were recognized in the four test sounds, /shi/, /chi/, /ki/, and /ri/
(**P < 0.01). There were no significant difference in /hi/ and /ni/. The intelligibility in WM was higher than in WAP in all test sounds.

Table 5 differences were hardly recognizable with devices made by

The average of duration of the consonant parts of the test sounds. baseplates due to the lower value and considerable variation in
Test sound Mean (ms) (SD) the intelligibility of the /chi/ sound in comparison to other test
WOC WM WAP sounds. The past study using this system indicated that the
intelligibility of the /chi/ sound in subjects with sound dentition
/shi/ 62.0 (22.9) 83.9 (26.4) 96.8 (35.9)
/hi/ 84.1 (26.8) 81.6 (19.5) 71.0 (25.9)
was lower than that of other sounds [15]. On the other hand, in
/chi/ 135.9 (28.2) 140.6 (21.5) 138.7 (20.8) this study, variations in intelligibility with the experimental
/ki/ 101.5 (14.7) 112.6 (23.4) 99.6 (12.0) connectors were comparatively stable, so a significant
/ri/ 54.9 (9.8) 54.8 (15.3) 47.2 (10.8) difference was recognized with the AP-bar. This finding
/ni/ 82.8 (15.7) 81.6 (11.6) 67.5 (20.4) suggests that the metal connectors cause little discomfort or
disturbances, likely because they are thinner and smoother
compared with baseplates.
4. Discussion In terms of the /hi/ sound, there was no significant difference
in intelligibility among the three connectors in this study.
4.1. Intelligibility of test sounds However, a close look at ‘‘the incorrect labels’’ and ‘‘the
duration’’ provided a different picture. Thus, it appears that
Matsuura et al. indicated that the appearance ratio of the intelligibility alone cannot be used to determine the complete
correct labels was not 100% in the speech sample of the subject effect of connectors on pronunciation. Therefore, we focused
with sound dentition and there were incorrect labels of a certain on the incorrect labels and the duration of consonants.
ratio [15]. They stated the correct labels represented the
intelligibility, and the incorrect labels represented the tendency 4.2. Incorrect labels
to be misheard of the test sounds.
The intelligibility of the six test sounds was higher in W
M Concerning the articulation mechanism of the incorrect
than in W
AP in this study. It was in agreement with findings of labels in each sound, the incorrect labels could be divided into
the preliminary experiment using baseplates, as well as reports two groups: fricative, affricate and plosive sounds and rolled
of past studies [5,18]. These findings suggest that sounds with and nasal sounds. Incorrect labels tended to appear in the
an alveolar articulation point, such as /shi/, /ri/ and /ni/, are same group and there appeared to be some correlation among
affected mainly by the anterior bar in the AP-bar, whereas the the types of incorrect labels in each group. In terms of the
sound with a velar articulation point, such as /ki/, is affected mean appearance ratios of incorrect labels, all types of
mainly by the posterior bar in the AP-bar [2]. In addition, the incorrect labels for /shi/ were lowest in WO
C, in the middle
intelligibility of the /ki/ sound with the M-bar was decreased in W
M, and highest in W
AP. On the other hand, the mean
because the tongue touched the posterior part of the M-bar. appearance ratios of the incorrect labels of /ki/ did not change
The preliminary experiment indicated that connectors with the three connectors. Therefore, two models of incorrect
placed on the anterior part of the palate, such as A, AP and labels were identified: one that appeared with different ratios
H, disturbed the pronunciation of the /chi/ sound. This result depending on the position of the connectors, and one that
suggested that /chi/ was mainly affected by the anterior bar in appeared with different ratios regardless of the position of the
the AP-bar. In the preliminary experiment, significant connectors.
240 J. Wada et al. / Journal of Prosthodontic Research 55 (2011) 234–242

Fig. 5. The mean appearance ratios of the incorrect labels. The incorrect labels of the three test sounds, fricative /shi/, affricate /chi/, and plosive /ki/, were belonged to
the group of fricative, affricate, and plosive. The incorrect labels of the two test sounds, rolled: /ri/ and nasals: /ni/, were belonged to the group of rolled and nasals. The
incorrect labels of fricative/hi/appeared from both groups.

However, the intelligibility of the test sound /ki/ was
decreased in W
M and W
AP, whereas the mean appearance
ratios of the incorrect labels of /ki/ were not changed for WO
C,
W
M, and W
AP. Therefore, these finding suggest that other
factors, not shown in the incorrect labels, might affect the
articulation of the test sound /ki/ and reduce the intelligibility
of /ki/.
In the incorrect labels of the test sound /hi/, the nasal sound /
ni/ exceptionally appeared, although /hi/ belongs to the
fricative, affricate, and plosive group. In addition, the /gi/
sound in the incorrect label of /hi/ was significantly increased in
W
AP compared with W
M. This study suggests that the
influence of the major connectors for the fricative /hi/ was
completely different from that for the fricative /shi/, whereas
past studies have reported that the major connectors caused
similar disturbances in these two sounds [2].
As shown in Fig. 5, the /gi/ sound appeared in both groups.
The /gi/ sound as an incorrect label appeared at a constant rate
regardless of the connector used except in the test sound /hi/; a
significant difference between W
M and W
AP was recognized
only in the test sound /hi/. The /gi/ sound, which is originally a
voiced plosive, is known to be occasionally nasalized in
Japanese. Therefore, it is speculated that the /gi/ sound
belonged to both the fricative, affricate and plosive group and
the rolled and nasals sounds group.
4.3. Evaluation of duration
Many former studies on duration of consonant and vowel
parts used a sonagram [4,6,19,20]. When using a sonagram, the
evaluation target was mainly extracted from the speech sample
using the local modifications of the formant frequency and VOT
 J. Wada et al. / Journal of Prosthodontic Research 55 (2011) 234–242
as reference. Thus, there was a limitation regarding when the
evaluation target was extracted from the test sound, because it
was difficult to use a sonagram to evaluate a sound which had
the short consonant part such as the voiceless plosive sound /ki/.
On the other hand, the /s/ sound was suitable for sonogram, and
used in many former studies [4,13,19–22]. For the above-
mentioned reason, few studies have evaluated the duration of
the consonant part of different sounds [2,6].
However, in the analysis of the sounds, it is necessary to
evaluate not only the local sections but also the transitional
sections from consonant to vowel or from vowel to consonant. In
our speech recognition system, although only consonant parts
were evaluated, the results of analysis of both vowels and
consonants were reflected. Thus the adequate sampling rate is
necessary for analyzing both vowels and consonants. Further-
more relatively long time frame shift was proper for the
evaluation of the vowel part. From the above reasons, the 8 ms
was proper for this system.
Although the duration was increased in W
M and W
AP in the
test sound /shi/, no significant differences among the three
connectors were shown in this study. There is a tendency for a
voiceless sound to have a long duration compared with a voiced
sound. The consonant part of the affricate /chi/ had a long
duration in this study. However, the past study indicated that the
consonant part of /chi/ was short [6,8]. It was considered that one
of the reasons was difference of determination of the section of
the consonant part between in this system and in sonagram.
In the test sounds, /hi/, /ri/, and /ni/, the duration tended to be
shortened in W
AP. Some of the recorded data indicated that the
consonant parts were extremely shortened or disappeared in
W
AP in these four test sounds, which could explain why these
sounds were shortened. These data resulted in a large standard
deviation is our findings, and thus, there were no significant
differences among three conditions in the duration of these
sounds. In addition, when the consonant part of the test sound
disappeared, the appearance ratio of incorrect labels of the test
sound was 0%, and the mean appearance ratios of both correct
labels and incorrect labels decreased.
Our findings suggest that the mechanism of influence of three
different conditions of connectors should be evaluated by not
only the correct and incorrect labels but also the duration of the
consonant parts. It was also suggested that the disappearance of
the test sound would impact greatly on the evaluation of influence
of the major connector on phonetic function.
4.4. Influence of the major connectors
Our findings suggest that the influence of the major
connector on the phonetic function is the two-sided. Some
of the test sound, such as /shi/ and /chi/, were disturbed because
of changing to another sound when the connector changed the
articulation position or the distance between the tongue and the
articulation position, and some of others, such as /ri/ and /ni/,
disturbed because of shortened duration which included the
disappearance of the test sound. Concerning the influence on
the test sound /hi/ and /chi/, it was suggested that these
disturbances could not become independent each other.
241
4.5. Clinical significance
In this study, we evaluated the influence of the major
connectors on phonetic function with six test sounds using a
speech recognition system. The results of the intelligibility
suggest that using the middle type of the major connector on
dentures has the least impact on phonetic function. The new
findings were found with the changes of the appearance ratio of
correct and incorrect labels and duration that the precise
differences between two connectors were detected. The correct
labels showed the degree of exactness of the pronunciation of
the test sounds and the incorrect labels showed the degree of
translation to other sounds.
It is important for the removable partial denture to transmit
the functional force directly to the teeth abutment and disperse
it widely. In case the denture is a bilateral design, the M-bar,
which can connect the teeth abutment with the shortest line, is
recommended from a dynamic viewpoint. Careful design of the
major connector is needed to avoid potential problems such as
palatine torus and the vomiting reflex.
In addition, the speech recognition system used in this study
can be used to evaluate phonetic function objectively and
immediately at the chair-side. It can thus be used to adjust
dentures for patients as well as for patients with cleft lip or palate
or those with hearing-impairments or speech disturbances.
5. Conclusion
We evaluated the influence of the major connectors on six
test sounds using a speech recognition system. It was indicated
that the middle type of the major connector would be
recommended from a viewpoint of phonetic function.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the staffs of Toshiba Digital Media
Engineering who concerned in the development of Voice
Analyzer for cooperation in this study. This study was
supported by a Grant-in-Aid (No. 19390492) from the Ministry
of Education, Science and Culture, Japan.
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