Effects of Certain Variables on Speech of Cleft Palate Persons

Abstract

Stress, rate, and rhythm are speech variables which conceivably might affect certain aspects of speech effectiveness of cleft palate speakers. Among methods for remediation of speech problems among cleft palate speakers, the writer (8) has suggested careful training in coarticulation of CV combinations in unstressed and less stressed syllabic environments. He has observed that cleft palate speakers tend to articulate affricatcs, fricativcs, and plosives better in stressed syllables than in syllables of reduced stress. However, there has been no objective evidence that would support or refute this impression. The writer (8) has also suggested reduc— tion in speaking rate of cleft palate speakers. Although this variable has been studied (10), its effect on ratings of any parameter of speech defec— tiveness of such speakers has not been reported in the literature. In a com— parative study of rate characteristics in cleft palate and noncleft palate adult male speakers, Lass and Noll (10) reported differences in oral read— ing, impromptu speaking, and rate alteration between the two groups of subjects. All these differences indicated slower mean rates of speaking among the cleft palate subjects. Tarlow and Saxman (20) reported that their young (7—9 year old) cleft palate subjects had smaller word per minute reading rate (105.4 wpm; range of 60.6 to 166.8 wpm) than their matched noncleft palate control subjects (164.8 wpm; range of 123.0 to 212.4 wpm). (8) From the findings of Lass and Noll (10) and Tarlow and Saxman (20), one might infer that cleft palate speakers generally sense a need to speak more slowly to achieve more proficient articulation, greater intelligibility, and possibly even improved voice quality. In terms of information theory (15, p. 156), improvement in the speech of the speaker, as well as more effective reception of information by the listener, should occur at slower speaking rates among speakers who are generally charac— terized by articulatory inaccuracy and intelligibility loss. In the encoding and decoding of General American speech, rhythm appears to be a means of contributing to meaning. Although four basic rhythmsfliambic, tro— chaic, anapestic, and dactylic—are most discernible in poetic literature,