Articulation, Voice, and Obturation in Persons with Acquired or Congenital Palate Defects

Abstract

Speech appliances are employed in persons with acquired palatal defects as well as in persons having congenital clefts. In each group the hard palate, soft palate, or both may be involved. Frequent mention has been made in the literature to the effect that persons with acquired palatal defects regain speech rather quickly upon obturation without remedial training (3, 4, 6). However, the amount of speech loss associated with the acquired damage and the amount of speech gain with obturation have not been reported in any systematic way. Nor is there apparently any reference in the literature about the relative effect on articulation from ac— quired palatal damage as compared to congenital palatal damage. The purposes of this study are to compare the articulation status and the degree of hypernasality of a group of persons with acquired palatal defects with that of a group of persons with congenital palatal defects. The groups will also be compared for amount of improvement in voice quality and articulation skills resulting from obturation. Results The subjects of this investigation were adults who were patients either at the Memorial Hospital in New York City or at the Dental Clinic of the National Institutes of Health, or who were from the practice of a private prosthodontist. The two experimental groups and the control group of normal adults were selected on the basis of availability for investigation. The congenital cleft palate group consisted of 11 adults, five men and six women, with an age range of 18 to 77 years and a median age of 41. The acquired palatal defect group consisted of 10 adults, five men and five women, with a median age of 66 and an age range of 20 to' 73