INTELLIGIBILITY AND NONSPEECH OROFACIAL STRENGTH AND FORCE CONTROL FOLLOWING TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY

Objective measures of nonspeech orofacial strength and force control w ere obtained for 20 individuals with traumatic brain injury. The dynam ic and static force generating abilities of the upper lip, lower lip, tongue, and jaw were assessed. Based on sentence intelligibility score s, the subjects were divided into two groups, more and less intelligib le. Force measures included reaction time, slope, derivative, peak ove rshoot, and first- and second-half mean hold and standard deviation. G roups differed only in the ability to sustain the 2 N force level with the tongue. Other potential contributors to the differences in intell igibility are discussed.