University of Twente Student Theses
Phenomenological modeling of the human tongue and lips
Julsing, B.K. (2009) Phenomenological modeling of the human tongue and lips.
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Abstract: | This report describes a M.Sc. thesis project in which an exploration study has been performed to the development of a dynamic model of the human tongue and lips. This thesis project was part of a larger project in which a team of specialists in several fields works together to find a solution that enables presurgical assessment of function losses after surgical treatment of oral cancers. The ultimate goal is the development of a virtual environment in which a functional three-dimensional model of the oral cavity and pharynx can be used to predict patient specifically the consequences of surgical interventions on the post-operative functioning of the involved organs. Because of the complicated anatomical and muscular structure of organs like the tongue and lips, the project is focused on the development of a so-called phenomenological black box-model, instead of a complicated, physiological model of the underlying structures. The principle working of a phenomenological model relies on the hypothesis that an explicit causal relation can be established between groups of muscular activation signals and dynamic model variables describing the shape and motion of the tongue and the lips. In this thesis project two of the main aspects in the development of such a phenomenological model are investigated. These aspects are methods for capturing and describing tongue and lip movements, and mathematical/statistical techniques for modeling dynamic systems. For the former an algorithm is developed that is able to automatically detect and track the tongue contour in (sequences of) magnetic resonance images. For a description of the dynamic behavior of the tongue and lips, linear state space models are investigated as possible frameworks. Although the current research was hampered by a lack of EMG data, in the near future this data does become available. The objective here was to already develop a possible dynamic model, which can be coupled to actual muscle activation signals in a later stage. Therefore, mathematical algorithms are derived and implemented for the estimation of input signals and system parameters from measured output variables. Performance of these models is evaluated by using data of lip movements. Although still a lot needs to be done to make the models empirically adequate, they at least show a proof of concept regarding the control of dynamic movements. Furthermore, a simple graphical user interface has been designed for the visualization and simulation of static and dynamic tongue and lip movements. |
Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
Faculty: | EEMCS: Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science |
Subject: | 53 electrotechnology |
Programme: | Electrical Engineering MSc (60353) |
Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/68941 |
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