Speech evaluation for patients with cleft palate

Abstract

Children with cleft palate are at risk for speech problems, particularly those caused by velopharyngeal insufficiency. There may be an additional risk of speech problems caused by malocclusion. This article describes the speech evaluation for children with cleft palate and how the results of the evaluation are used to make treatment decisions. Instrumental procedures that provide objective data regarding the function of the velopharyngeal valve, and the 2 most common methods of velopharyngeal imaging, are also described. Because many readers are not familiar with phonetic symbols for speech phonemes, Standard English letters are used for clarity.

Keywords: Hypernasality; Nasal emission; Nasometry; Nasopharyngoscopy; Velopharyngeal dysfunction; Velopharyngeal incompetence; Velopharyngeal insufficiency; Velopharyngeal mislearning.