Nasal Air Flow During Normal Speech Production

Abstract

Nasal airflow was measured during the speech of 1 12 normal subjects (59 females and 53 males) ranging in age from three years to 37 years, six months. Flow was zero during nearly all oral consonant and vowel utterances, suggesting that velopharyngeal closure was airtight. Flow occurred during all nasal consonants and during vowels adjacent to nasal consonants. Both age and sex effects were demonstrated for flow on vowels preceding nasal consonants. These effects were interpreted as showing that progressively older subjects and female subjects demonstrate earlier anticipatory coarticulation in preparation for forthcoming nasal consonants.