The Compensatory Articulation in the Patients with Cleft Palate having Velopharyngeal Insufficiency

Lee, Eun-Kyung; Park, Mi-Kyong; Son, Young-Ik

J Korean Soc Laryngol Phoniatr Logop > Volume 16(2); 2005 > Article

Journal of The Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics 2005;16(2): 118-122.

구개열로 인한 연인두 폐쇄 부전 환자의 보상조음

이은경¹, 박미경², 손영익³

¹성균관대학교 의과대학 삼성서울병원 이비인후과학교실
²나무야 언어치료실
³성균관대학교 의과대학 삼성서울병원

The Compensatory Articulation in the Patients with Cleft Palate having Velopharyngeal Insufficiency

Eun-Kyung Lee¹, Mi-Kyong Park², Young-Ik Son³

¹Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine
²Namooya Speech Clinic
³Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine

ABSTRACT

Background and Objectives
The compensatory articulation not only influences general speech intelligibility, but also prevents precise assessment of the velopharyngeal function. This study was performed to investigate frequently affected phonemes, prevalence and the characteristics of compensatory articulation in the patients with cleft palate having velopharyngeal insufficiency. Material and Method An archival review was taken on 103 cleft palate subjects. Their age ranged from 2.6 to 63 years (mean age of 9.8 years). They were grouped into two : preschool group (n=71) and older patient group (n=32). The prevalence and patterns of compensatory articulation were examined on oral high pressure consonants such as plosives, fricatives and affricates.
Results
: Compensatory errors were observed in $49.5%$ of the subjects and were mostly glottal stops with the exception of 4cases who had pharyngeal fricatives in addition to glottal stops. The most frequently substituted phonemes were velar plosives and tense sound. There was no significant difference of prevalence in both groups. However, errors for bilabial and alveolar plosives were more frequently observed in preschool group.
Conclusion
High prevalence of compensatory articulation observed in both preschool and older age group indicates that their articulation errors tend to remain unless appropriate speech therapy is provided. To improve speech intelligibility of the patients with cleft palate having velopharyngeal insufficiency, it is advisable to address and correct the compensatory articulation errors in their earlier ages.

KEY WORDS： Cleft palate;Velopharyngeal insufficiency Articulation disorders;Compensation;Speech therapy.;