Effect of Speaking Rate on Judgments of Disordered Speech in Children with Cleft Palate

Abstract

The effect of increased speaking rate on the perception of disordered speech in children with cleft palate was studied. Six children with cleft palate (ages 7 years to 10 years of age) produced three different sentences over a continuum of speaking rates. Fifteen judges rated each sentence according to the severity of disordered speech perceived, including nasality, nasal distortions, nasal emission, glot-tal stops, and pharyngeal fricatives. Mean ratings for the 15 judges were determined for each sentence. The results indicated that the perception of disordered speech did not increase as a function of increased speaking rate. Possible explanations for the results include: (1) The speakers with cleft palate made adjustments in movement strategy to accommodate the reduced time in a manner similar to speakers without a cleft. (2) The speakers with cleft palate used movement strategies which, although unlike those used by speakers without a cleft, allowed them to avoid speech deterioration. (3) Increasing speaking rate did not reduce the time available to an extent that it was necessary to change movement strategy. During certain speech tasks, such as the production of a single word, the structure of the cleft palate mechanism and the child's motor abilities may be adequate to avoid the perception of abnormal speech. The same cleft palate speaker, however, may produce connected speech that is perceived to be abnormal (Van Demark, 1970). The perceived errors in the connected speech of some speakers with cleft palate may be related to either structural or motoric inabilities. The temporal requirements of connected speech may tax the speech production systems of certain speakers with cleft palate more than isolated words tax them.