Safety of electromagnetic articulography in patients with pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators.

Purpose: Electromagnetic articulography (EMA) uses a helmet to create alternating magnetic fields for tracking speech articulator movement. An important safety consideration is whether EMA magnetic fields interfere with the operation of speakers' pacemakers or implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs). In this investigation, individuals with pacemaker/ICD devices were exposed to EMA fields under controlled conditions while potential interference was examined.

The role of prosody in a case of foreign accent syndrome (FAS).

Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is a rare disorder characterized by the emergence of a perceived foreign accent following brain damage. The symptomotology, functional bases, and neural substrates of this disorder are still being elucidated. In this case study, acoustic analyses were performed on the speech of a 46-year old monolingual female who presented with FAS of unknown aetiology.