Application of Analytichierarchy Process to Evaluation of Prosthetic Palatal Plate Morphology in Speech Recognition System

This study revealed how phonetically the prosthetic palatal plate is configured from the viewpoint of Saaty's Analytic Hierarchy Process as Fazzy decision theory. Ten male adults, aged 23-26, with normal teeth alignment and occlusion, and normal auditory system were selected as the subjects. Experimental palatal plates, 2mm thick, were morphologically designed into five types of outline formation such as full palatal (P1), anterior three quarters (P2), anterior one half (P3), and anterior one quarter (P4) plate. Sound samples were recorded by Digital Audio Tape-Corder and analyzed by Voice Recognizing System. Data was transformed into the matrix of “Weighted Recognition Score (WRS)”, and calculated by Analytic Hierarchy Process. Prosthetically effective conclusions were as follows: In application of voice recognition system for evaluating prosthetic fablication, WRS were found to be effective and useful. As for the high score order of the plate evaluation in recognition, P3 was the best on [p], [t], [b], [s], [dz], [n], and [r], and P2 was the best on [m] and [k]. From the viewpoint of AHP comprehensive decisions, P3 was the best form and P1 was the worst form for speech production.