Oral Dynamics Lab

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Welcome to the Oral Dynamics Laboratory

Department of Speech Language Pathology

Faculty of Medicine

University of Toronto

Director: Dr. Pascal van Lieshout

News:

Pascal van Lieshout received the Richard H. Barrett Award from the International Association of Orofacial Myology (IAOM) at their Annual Meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio on October 22, 2011 for his research contributions to the field of orofacial myology.

New logo: the ODL has a new logo (see above). It was developed by Athena Herrmann and her colleagues at AKENDI

Featured link:

What causes stuttering? And how is it treated? | U of T Research & Innovation

With the popularity and success of the movie The King's Speech , the U of T Research & Innovation website features a Behind the Headlines Q&A with Dr. Pascal van Lieshout on stuttering.

Opportunities to participate in research

Children's motor performance! (PDF)
Did your child have difficulties learning to ride a bicycle, tie shoelaces, or print? OR Are you curious how your child would perform on assessments of motor and speech performance?

We are currently conducting a study exploring speech production and activity participation in children with and without motor difficulties.

Participants are asked to complete several vocalization activities while attached to motion sensors; they will also answer some questions about what type of activities they do.

A comprehensive assessment is completed by trained student occupational therapists and will include the following:

Motor abilities
Activity participation
Speech production characteristics

2 sessions will be scheduled (can be combined)

1st session – ~1-1.5 hours at your home or the University of Toronto
2nd session – ~1 hour at the University of Toronto

We are looking for boys, 9 – 12 years of age, with and without motor difficulties .

For more information or to participate in this study, please contact Julia Foster & Samantha Swimm
by phone 416-946-7130
or by e-mail dcdspeechstudy@gmail.com

The ODL is a specialized facility for research in the area of oral motor control. The research in the ODL concentrates on speech and swallowing behaviours in normal and disordered populations, including stroke patients with aphasia and verbal apraxia, people who stutter and individuals suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Concepts and tools of non-linear dynamical system theories are used to study motor coordination skills and learning at different levels. In particular, the focus is on different types of constraints that act upon the oral motor system (e.g., linguistic structure, task familiarity) in the way they shape the nature and stability of the dynamic coupling between articulators like tongue, lips and jaw. A better understanding of this relationship will provide new insights in the origin of speech and swallowing problems, which will support the development of improved assessment and rehabilitation techniques for these patients. A second line of research in the lab is dedicated to the development of new oral rehabilitation tools that support diagnosis and treatment of speech and voice disorders.

Feel free to explore our website and learn more about the lab and its people. If you have questions, suggestions or are interested in doing research in the ODL, please contact Dr. Pascal van Lieshout.

History

The Oral Dynamics Lab (ODL) was founded by Dr. Pascal van Lieshout when he was appointed an assistant professor at the Graduate Department of Speech-Language Pathology in 1998. Dr. Van Lieshout came from the University of Nijmegen , where he received masters of science degrees with honours in General Linguistics and Speech-Language Pathology. He pursued his academic career at the Nijmegen Institute for Cognition and Information , where he obtained a Ph.D. in experimental psychology for this thesis on motor control in stuttering. Dr. Van Lieshout has always been interested in working with the latest technology in speech research and this has continued in the way he designed the ODL, acquiring state-of-the-art technology in speech kinematics (2D and 3D articulographs; APAS 3D video) and other areas. His contributions to the area of speech-language pathology were recognized in a Canada Research Chair (tier II) award to support his research on oral motor function across the lifespan. Furthermore, to stress the interdisciplinary nature of the lab, Dr. Van Lieshout has cross-appointments to the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomechanical Engineering , the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto in Mississauga, and the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute . The lab has supported successful thesis completions for students at the masters and doctoral level and has been a fruitful training facility for many work students and volunteers , who participated in and contributed to the various projects in the lab.

Key objectives

The main objective of the ODL research program is to develop and apply innovative, objective and non-invasive tools and methods to study kinematic and dynamic aspects of speech and swallowing tasks for various age groups with and without oral-motor functional disorders. This research will lead to a better understanding of factors which determine the effective accomplishment of task goals in the context of natural and/or induced constraints. Such constraints can be related to motor aspects (e.g., rate and amplitude of movements), task demands (e.g., word length and syllabic structure in speech; bolus characteristics in swallowing), and anatomical/physiological limitations (e.g., changes in oral-facial structures, neurological lesions, and changes due to functional adaptations in the presence of sensory loss). Using principles and tools of DST these constraints can be associated with specific factors that influence the stability of oral-motor behaviours.

matt and heidi in the lab Student demo pic