The speech-language pathologist's work can be saved on the software, and the person learning to speak can take it home for practice. The time needed for people to learn to speak depends on their commitment to practicing and other factors such as age and whether they can hear or are correcting a minor speech impediment, Fletcher said.

Fletcher has developed numerous palatometers throughout the years, with the help of other speech-language researchers, engineers, medical physicists and computer programers at Utah State University, the University of New Mexico, the University of Alabama and BYU.

The most recent palatometer was fine-tuned about five years ago, and a patent is pending. It costs between $200 and $300.

Fletcher said he wants speech-language pathologists everywhere to be able to obtain palatometers and provide instructions through his company, LogoMetrix.

"There are probably around 18 to 20 universities that have bought them," he said.

Fletcher began working on the palatometer after seeing an article in a academic journal in 1969. Researchers at the University of Washington watched people speak while the subjects wore dentures with silver sensors attached.

"I called them," Fletcher said. "We were working with deaf kids. I asked, 'What are you doing with the study?' They said, 'Nothing.' "

The researchers were excited for Fletcher to continue their work. Saliva corrodes silver within seconds, which led Fletcher to use gold. He substituted pseudo-palatometers for the dentures. Over the years, he found plastics that were less bulky than his original palatometer, which cost about $1,500, he said.

While the palatometer can teach speech, vocal tone and inflection must be learned through other methods, Dromey said.

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com