The Compensatory Articulation in the Patients with Cleft Palate having Velopharyngeal Insufficiency

구개열로 인한 연인두 폐쇄 부전 환자의 보상조음

Background and Objectives The compensatory articulation not only influences general speech intelligibility, but also prevents precise assessment of the velopharyngeal function. This study was performed to investigate frequently affected phonemes, prevalence and the characteristics of compensatory articulation in the patients with cleft palate having velopharyngeal insufficiency. Material and Method An archival review was taken on 103 cleft palate subjects. Their age ranged from 2.6 to 63 years (mean age of 9.8 years). They were grouped into two : preschool group (n=71) and older patient group (n=32). The prevalence and patterns of compensatory articulation were examined on oral high pressure consonants such as plosives, fricatives and affricates. Results : Compensatory errors were observed in $49.5\%$ of the subjects and were mostly glottal stops with the exception of 4cases who had pharyngeal fricatives in addition to glottal stops. The most frequently substituted phonemes were velar plosives and tense sound. There was no significant difference of prevalence in both groups. However, errors for bilabial and alveolar plosives were more frequently observed in preschool group. Conclusion High prevalence of compensatory articulation observed in both preschool and older age group indicates that their articulation errors tend to remain unless appropriate speech therapy is provided. To improve speech intelligibility of the patients with cleft palate having velopharyngeal insufficiency, it is advisable to address and correct the compensatory articulation errors in their earlier ages.