Abstract
Objective
The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether there exist differential nasalance measures for consonant-vowel-consonant syllables consisting of different pressure consonants articulated by Marathi-speaking children with and without repaired cleft lip and palate.
Participants
Ten Marathi-speaking children with repaired cleft palate between the ages of 5 and 12 years formed the experimental group. The control group consisted of 10 age- and sex-matched children with no clefts and no history of any hearing, speech, or voice disorder.
Methods and Materials
The Kay Elemetrics nasometer model 6200-2 (IBMPC version) was used for obtaining nasalance measurements. Speech material consisted of eight Marathi monosyllabic words consisting of the pressure consonants p,
Results
Results indicate that there exist differential mean nasalance scores for the syllables with different pressure consonants articulated by Marathispeaking subjects with repaired cleft lip and palate and those without cleft lip and palate. Correlation coefficient computed between the instrumental measures and the perceptual judgments of nasality indicates moderate correlation between the two measures.
Conclusions
Presence of differential nasalance scores may have diagnostic and therapeutic implications. Results also emphasize the need to evaluate nasal resonance in stimuli other than the traditional ones.