The ability to see what a person’s tongue is doing while speaking has been the goal of speech professionals for decades.  Historically, they have used techniques that range from coating the student’s tongue with a mixture of honey and charcoal powder, to using flashlights and tongue depressors in an effort to aid those with speech difficulties.  The Palatometer tool is revolutionary, enabling you to see what an individual’s tongue is doing without the need to coat it. The Palatometer allows you to see real-time continuous and isolated speech production versus one sound at a time with the tongue-coating method, and it also gives you the ability to model what the correct tongue-to-palate contact should be. The ability to see these contacts in real-time has proven highly effective in teaching and training individuals with speech disorders.

“It’s very encouraging to see a speech therapy product that helps patients see, hear, understand and compare what they are doing to what they need to do.  In reviewing this entry, I was really impressed with the collaborative, egalitarian relationship the product helped build between patient and therapist too as it positions them side by side and engages both parties with the fitted Palatometer. All of these factors seem to de-stigmatize the therapy and contribute to patient success.”  –Michelle Berryman, IDSA, Echo Visualization LLC

Contact: Michael Horito: [email protected]

Credit: Michael Horito, IDSA, John R. Omdahl, Lee Croy, Mark Schulte and Bryan Sparks of Rocketship, Inc., and Andy May of CompleteSpeech