New Super-Fast MRI Technique: Singing 'If I Only Had a Brain'

New Super-Fast MRI Technique: Singing ‘If I Only Had a Brain’

YouTube caption: Researchers use a new technique that is 10-times faster than standard MRI scanners to illustrate how the hundreds of muscles in our neck, jaw, tongue, and lips work together to produce sound.

Assistant professor in Speech and Hearing Science, and Beckman Institute faculty member, Aaron Johnson demonstrates the real-time imaging capabilities in song.

The basis for the technique was developed by electrical and computer engineering professor Zhi-Pei Liang’s group at the Beckman Institute. Brad Sutton, associate professor in Bioengineering, and his team further developed and implemented the technique to make high-speed speech imaging possible.

The technique captures MRI images at a far faster rate than any other MRI technique in the world. This dynamic imaging is especially useful in studying how rapidly the tongue is moving, along with other muscles in the head and neck during speech and singing.

“Typically, MRI imaging is able to acquire maybe 10 frames per second or so. But we are able to scan 100 frames per second, without sacrificing the quality of the images,” said Brad Sutton, technical director of Beckman’s Biomedical Imaging Center.

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