State-of-the-art speech production MRI protocol for new 0.55 Tesla scanners

Real-time magnetic resonance imaging (RT-MRI) is a safe and powerful tool for studying vocal tract dynamics during speech production. Emerging low- and mid-field MRI platforms bring new capability including higher frame rates, improved tissue contrast, and reduced blurring compared to conventional 1.5T and 3T MRI. Here, we present a state-of-the-art speech production MRI protocol tailored to the 0.55T platform. This includes 2D mid-sagittal vocal tract RT-MRI, simultaneous multislice RT-MRI with 3 parallel slices, tagged RT-MRI for functional evaluation of internal tongue deformation, biofeedback that allows participants to see their scan in real-time, and 3D static imaging. Imaging performance is comparable and, in several cases, superior to 1.5T and 3T MRI, making 0.55T an exciting new platform for speech research.