• Korean Journal of Cleft Lip And Palate
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.123-132
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to obtain normative nasalance scores for adult subjects speaking the Korean language. Additional objectives of the study were to determine if speaker sex played a role in differences in nasalance score and there was significantly correlation of nasalance score with nasalance slope score. The subjects include 75 healthy young Korean adults with normal oral and velopharyngeal resource and function. They had no history of speech problem, were judged as having normal speech and resonance at the time of testing, and had no upper respiratory tract infections or allergies at the time of testing. The Nasometer II 6400 was used to obtain nasalance scores and nasalance slope scores for /a/, /i/, /e/, /o/, /u/, /ja/, /je/, /wi/, /p'ap'i/ and /sasi/. The data of nasalance and nasalance slope were analyzed statistically. The mean nasalance score of the female was significantly higher than that of male at /a/, /i/, /wi/, /p'ap'i/ and /sasi/(p <0.10). The mean nasalance score of /i/ was highest and that of /o/ was the lowest. In this study, we could not and the relationship of the nasalance score and the closing slope score. However, there was negative correlation between the mean nasalance score and the opening slope score at ie/ and /;ai, positive to /sasi/. These normative nasalance scores for normal young adults speaking the Korean language provide important reference information for Korean cleft palate teams. In the future study of velopharygneal activity with the Nasometer, the opening slope score will be able to be the important parameter.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.141-145
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• 2000

Background and Objectives : The nasalance score measured by Nasometer is a supplementary data for the perceptually rated nasality by a trained speech pathologist. The nasalance score varies with subjects. The objective of the present study was to examine whether there are differences in nasalance scores as a function of age and sex. Materials and Method : This study used 20 normal chidren aged from 3 to 8 and 40 normal adults aged from 21 to 37(male : female= 1 : 1) as subjects. The nasalance scores were analyzed in 3 different phonetic contests(nasal, /i/ vowel,/a/ vowel) and 4 different sentence lengths(1, 2, 4, 8 syllable). Results : The children had significantly higher nasalance scores in short sentences an the adults. The female subjects had significantly higher nasalance scores in nasal sentences and in short sentences than the male subjects. Conclusion : These results may indicate that sex and age differences should be considered in the interpretation of the nasalance score in nasal sentences or in short sentences.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.111-116
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• 2016

The Nasometer is most commonly used to assess the presence and degree of resonance problems in clinical settings and it provides nasalance scores to identify the acoustic correlates of nasality. Nasalance scores are influenced by factors related to speakers and speech stimuli. This study aims to examine the effect of vowel context and length of stimuli and age on nasalance scores. The participants were 20 adults and 45 children ranging in age from 3 to 5 years. The stimuli consisted of 12 sentences containing no nasal consonants. The stimuli in the three vowel contexts (low, high, and mixed) consisted of 4, 8, 16, and 31-syllable long sentences. Speakers were asked to repeat each stimulus after examiner. The results indicated significant effects of vowel contexts and stimulus length on nasalance scores. The nasalance scores for the high vowel contexts were significantly higher than those for the mixed and low vowel contexts. The nasalance scores for the mixed vowel contexts were significantly higher than those for the low vowel contexts. Speakers had higher nasalance scores for 4-syllable long sentences and 31-syllable long sentences than for 16-syllable long sentences. The effect of age on nasalance scores was not significant. The results of the study suggest that the vowel context and length of speech stimuli should be carefully considered when interpreting the nasalance scores.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.191-203
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• 2003

This study examined the effect of vocal loudness on nasalance measures, under the conditions of three sentence patterns (i.e., Oral sentences, Mixed sentences, Nasal sentences). The vocal loudness level was classified into soft voice (55 dB), medium voice (65 dB) and loud voice (75 dB). The participants in the present study were 30 normal adults (male: female =1:1). Kay's Nasometer 6200 was used to measure nasalance and Sound level meter was used to adjust the loudness level. The results of the present study are as follows. Firstly, the change in vocal loudness is in the following. In the Oral sentence stimuli, the loud voice for both male and female showed the highest nasalance degree, and the medium voice the lowest level. In the Mixed and Nasal sentence stimuli, however, male participants showed the highest degree of nasalance in the soft voice, and the lowest degree in the loud voice, and female showed the highest degree of nasalance in the soft voice and the lowest in the medium voice. Secondly, when each subject's nasalance scores were ranked in a ordered manner, noticeable tendency. Lowest nasalance score occurred in the loud voice and the highest nasalance score was recorded in the soft voice during participants' reading of the Nasal sentences. However, it was hard to find such pattern in the Oral sentences. It is assumed that velopharyngeal function could be related to these findings. Furthermore, the findings associated with vocal loudness may have diagnostic as well as clinical implications.

• Korean Journal of Cleft Lip And Palate
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.53-62
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• 2010

Nasalance is used to evaluate the velopharyngeal incompetence in clinical diagnosis using Nasometer. The aim of this study is to find the nasalance differences between English native speakers and Korean speakers by measuring the nasalance of Oral and Nasal sentences. 20 Americans and 20 Korean students participate to the experimentation. The results are as follows: (1) The nasalance of females for Oral and Nasal sentences is higher than that of males for both native and Korean speakers. (2) The nasalance of Oral sentences in Korean men and females is higher than that of Oral sentences in American men and females, however, the nasalance of Nasal sentences in American men and females is higher than that of Nasal sentences in Korean men and females. (3) The nasalance of stop consonants /p, t, k/ in Korean men and females is higher than that of consonants in American men and females. (4) The nasalance of nasal consonants /m, n, ɧ/ in American men and females is higher than that of consonants in Korean men and females.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.121-125
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to compare the characteristics of nasalance in speakers with spastic cerebral palsy (CP) according to the types of sentence used for nasalance test. Twenty-eight speakers with spastic CP participated in this study. The experiment was conducted by analyzing nasalance of prolonged vowel utterance using the Sea sentence, the Zoo sentence, and the Mother sentence. The three sentences differ in the ratio of nasal consonants. The results show significant differences among the types of sentence for nasalance test.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2002

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of vowel type on the nasalance score. Twenty one male adults without VPI produced 5 types of vowels (/a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/) in two conditions-normal and simulated VPI condition. Nasalance scores were measured for each vowel. These data were compared between conditions and among vowel types. The results were as follow : For all vowels, nasalance scores were significantly higher in simulated VPI condition than in normal condition. The two conditions yielded different patterns in terms of the degree of nasalance across the 5 vowels. In normal condition, nasalance scores were higher in front vowels than in medial or back vowels. But in simulated VPI condition, nasalance scores were higher in high vowels than in mid or low vowels.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.97-101
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• 1999

The nasalance score measured by Nasometer is a supplementary data for the perceptually rated nasality by a trained speech pathologist. Because the nasalance score varies with speech material, a valid and reliable material should be developed for evaluating it. The objectives of the present study were (1) to examine whether phonetic contexts affect the nasalace score and (2) to examine the reliability of both meaningless one-syllable words and meaningful sentences. This study analyzed nasalance score in 20 different phonetic contexts from 24 normal adults. The results showed (1) nasalance score increased as the percentage of nasal consonants and vowel /i/ increased, (2) the manner and the place of articulation in oral consonants did not influence the nasalance score, and (3) in nasalance score, correlation between sentences was found to be high, but correlation between syllables was not. These results may indicate that, when preparing the speech material for measuring the nasalance score, it is important to consider not only the percentage of nasal consonants but also that of vowel /i/ in the speech material. In addition, the sentence is more reliable material than meaningless one-syllable words.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.133-140
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to investigate any changes in acoustic qualities of voice as ,a function of nasalance, in order to determine the relationship between vocal quality and nasalance. Twenty normal subjects (10 males and 10 females) vocalized /a/, /$\tilde{a}$/, and /a $\eta$/. The changes in nasalance and acoustic characteristics of the voice were analyzed by Nasometer (Model 6200-3, Kay Elemetrics, co) and Dr, Speech 4.0 (Tiger Electronics, Co), respectively. One-way ANOVA was used to examine any changes in jitter, shimmer, harmonics-to-noise ratio, and normalized noise energy relative to the nasalance in 3 types of vocalization. The Person r correlation coefficient was used to identify the relationship between the nasalance and the vocal quality. There was no statistically significant changes in jitter, shimmer, HNR and NNE. The jitter, however, tended to increase as the nasalance socre increased, compared to the other vocal parameters. In addition, the NNE showed an increase on / $\tilde{a}$/, and /a $\eta$/, more on the /a $\eta$/. Thus, it was speculated that NNE could be used to identify or screen resonant disorders with hypernasality

• Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.219-228
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• 2000

Assessment of speech nasality provides important information for the treatment of velopharyngeal incompetence. Objective procedures may be used to assess velopharyngea1 function, in examples Nasometer, Aerodynamics, x-ray, Electromyography, Nasoendoscopy and Videofluoroscopy etc. The aim of this study was to obtain comprehensive nasalance data for Korean adults, aged 20 years and to investigate any gender differences within that age group using Nasometer II. The results were as follow: (1) The nasalance of the vowels(/a/, /i/, /e/, /o/, /u/, /ja/, /je/, /wi/) in the group of adults was higher in females than in males (p<0.05). (2) The nasalance of the plosives (/p/, /$p^h$/, /p'/, /t/, /$t^h$/, /t'/, /k/, /$k^h$/, /k'/) in the group of adults was higher in females than in males (p<0.05). (3) The nasalance of the affricatives (/c/, /$c^h$/, /c'/) in the group of adults was higher in females than in males (p<0.05). (4) The nasalance of the fricatives (/s/, /s'/, /$\int$/) in the group of adults was higher in female than in males (p<0.05). (5) There was no statistically significant effect for the nasalance of nasal consonants (/m/, /n/, /$a{\eta}$/).