Abstract In this paper, the present situation in Japan regarding development and application of the electro-palatography is reviewed. Then, data on lingual articulation with respect to personal differences and child characteristics are reported. These data were obtained by combining the three-dimensional measurements of the plaster casts of the hard palates of fifteen adults, thirty children, and two children at different dental stages, with the electro-palatographic observation of the lingual contact patterns with the hard palates of the adult subjects and four children during utterances of the Japanese consonants.