What is Speech?
Speech is produced with the goal of the listener’s perception. Accurate and precise articulation requires an alignment of exact placement, timing, direction, and force of the articulators in conjunction with air steam adjustments, initiation or stopping of phonation (the process of the making sound in the vocal folds) and velopharyngeal action. Speech is comprised of integration of the body (i.e. neuromuscular, musculoskeletal, central, and peripheral systems) and brain (i.e. Neurocognitive). This integration begins at the conception of thought, feeling or emotion that is intended to communicate. This is message must follow the language rules it is spoken in being conveyed into verbal symbols. The message is sent to the neuromuscular system for execution is sequenced by the sensorimotor system which activate the speech muscles for appropriate timing, duration, and intensity. Finally, the message is sent to the central and peripheral systems for regulation and execution by innervating the respiratory, phonology, resonatory and articulatory systems in a way turning that the combination of the muscles form an acoustic signal that is perceived by another person.