A Study of Nasalance for Normal Korean Children Using Nasometer II

정상 소아의 비음도에 관한 연구

The perceptual judgement of nasality is still used in the assessment of velopharyngeal incompetence, but it should not be the sole criterion for speech nasality. Objective procedures may be used to assess velopharyngeal function, for example, nasometer, aerodynamics, x-ray, electromyography, nasoendoscopy, and videofluoroscopy can be utilized. The nasometer employs noninvasive measurement methods and measures with high levels of accuracy. The aim of this study was to obtain comprehensive nasalance data for Korean children, aged 7 years, and to investigate any gender differences within that age group. The results were as follow: 1. Statistically, gender has no significant effect on the nasalance of vowels /a/, /i/, /o/, /u/, /je/, /wi/) but the nasalance of the vowels /e/, /ja/) was higher in males (p<0.05). 2. There was no statistically significant effect of gender in plosives /p/, /ph/, /p'/, /t/, /th/, /t'/, /k/, /kh/, /k'/), affricatives /c/, /ch/, /c'/), and fricatives /s/, /s'/, /$\int$/). 3. The nasalance of the nasal consonants, /m/, /n/, /an/) is higher in males and only /n/, /an/ were statistically significant (p<0.05).