Nasal air escape during the emission of plosive and fricative phonemes in patients with operated unilateral cleft lip and palate

Abstract

Objective: The objective of the present study is to determine whether or not differences in the nasal air escape during the emission of plosive and fricative phonemes in patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate exist. Methods: An aerophonoscope IIc, an instrument which captures the nasal air escape during speech, was used .The study simple comprised 74 patients diagnosed with operated unilateral cleft lip and palate. The age of the participants ranged between 58 (4 years and 10 month) and 540 months (45 years). A t-test for group comparisons was computed for the statistical analysis. Results: Statistically significant differences were found en the percentage of nasal air escape between fricative (52,22%) and plosive phonemes (35,94%) Conclusion: Fricative phonemes are the most affected ones among patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate. The most affected fricative phoneme is /s/. The aerophonoscopy is an objective and valid test to determine the nasal air escape.