Ever want to take a long look at the inside of someone’s mouth while they’re speaking? Me neither, but thanks to a series of videos posted to YouTube by the Max Planck Society in Germany, we can.
source/image: MaxPlanckSociety
This real-time MRI film shows live the movements in the mouth and pharynx during speech: The spatio-temporal coordination of the lips, tongue, soft palate and larynx becomes visible, which is necessary to form vowels, consonants and coarticulations.
Gross as they are, these videos serve a higher purpose in the medical field, beyond weirding me out on YouTube.
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Real-time MRI technology makes it possible to directly observe things like joints, speech, swallowing and heartbeats.Observing and diagnosing from the outside helps doctors treat ailments like heartburn or chest pain without more invasive techniques.
