• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 1996.02a
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• pp.23-40
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• 1996

The communicative disorders in cleft palate patients have relationship with the acoustic and He physiological phenomena. Particularily hypernasality is a parameter of cleft palate speech that has been studied by many clinicians and speech pathologists. The degree of hypernasality has been assessed by the listener,s judgement, but perceptual assessements have poor scientific reliability, so objective instruments have been needed to test hypernasality with diagnostics accuracy. This study was analyzed the nasalance score using a Nasometer for cleft palate patients. The simple vowels /a/, /i/, /e/ and the approximants /j/, /w/ were tested for the degree of hypernasality after operation. The phrases containing long and short duration times were used in this study to asses hypeernasality. Fiberopic views shows the open velopharyngeal port that resulted in hypernasality of cleft palate patients. The authors assert the important of the management of cleft palate patients.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.261-271
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) therapy on the treatment of hypernasality in patients with cleft lips and palates. 7 preschool children with severe hypernasality participated in the study. Acoustic measurements of nasality were done by using the NasalView (version 1.31). Results showed that the nasalance values were reduced linearly in both vowels according to the treatment period. The sharp treatment effect was observed at the beginning stage. The nasality values of the vowel /i/ showed a sharp decrease at the Evaluation Phase 1 and 2 and a small increase at the Phase 4 followed by a drop in the end. Further studies would be desirable for various patients with different disorder types.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2006

The articulation disorders associated with velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) in cleft palate patients are interested to clinicians particularly. The purpose of this study was to investigate mainly the oropharyngeal air pressure and overall air flow in cleft palate patients. The pressure-measuring catheter was positioned at the midportion of the oropharyngeal cavity with a facial mask. Test words were composed of 9 meaningless polysyllabic words and 17 meaningful words. Aerophone II and Nasometer II were used to measure peak air pressure, mean air pressure, maximum flow rate, volume, phonatory flow rate, nasalance. The data shows that airflow of the cleft palate patient group were higher than those of the control group. Intraoral air pressure of the cleft palate patient group was lower than those of the control group. The first vowel formant and first Bandwidths of the cleft palate patient group were higher than those of the control group.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 2005

Differential instrumentation for the diagnoses of individuals with Cleft palate has been used to objectively measure speech problems. The Cepstrum Method was used to study the vocal tract transfer function. The vocal tract transfer function and the source spectrum should be considered in the evaluation of nasal resonance. The aim of this study was to collect quantitative data on the acoustic Instrumentation used for evaluating hypernasality. Normal subjects (9 male, 21 female; 37 male children, 20 female children) and individuals with VPI (13 male, 8 female; 16 male children, 9 female) participated in this study. The vowel /i/ was selected to gauge the severances of hypernasality Spectral and Cepstral studies using CSL was used to identify the acoustic characteristics. Cepstrum analysis shows significant differences in quefrency and amplitude. The quefrency of normal groups was shorter than that of the VPI groups, while the amplitude of normal groups was lower than that of the VPI groups. This may have significance in the evaluation 'of nasal resonance.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.168-172
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• 1998

Several kinds of surgical methods have been used to treat the submucous cleft palate with hypernasality. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the double opposing Z-plasty which is one of the newly established surgical methods by Dr. Furlow in three cases of submucous cleft palate with hypernasality operated in this department. There were a number of advantage of double opposing Z-plasty. The surgery is adaptable for use in early patient. Midfacial growth retardation and complication were not seen in all cases. Hypernasality was improved subjectively. Using the nasometer, the nasalance score of the postoperative period was compared with that of before surgery, much improvement were noted in 'Ah', 'PaPa'. And fiberoptic endoscope was used to evaluate the velopharyngeal closure pattern. Velopharyngeal closure pattern with velum was improved dramatically, Double opposing Z-plasty seem to be a good procedure for the treatment of submucous cleft palate with hypernasality.

• Korean Journal of Cleft Lip And Palate
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.45-52
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• 2005

Velopharyngeal Insufficiency(VPI); the failure of velum, the lateral wall and the posterior pharyngeal wall to separate the nasal cavity from pharyngeal cavity during speech, can be caused by congenital conditions include cleft palate, submucous cleft palate and congenital palatal insufficiency. Speech problems of VPI are characterized by hypernasality, nasal air emission, increased nasal air flow and decreased intelligibility. These speech problems of VPI can be treated with the surgical procedure, the application of temporary prosthesis and speech therapy. Biofeedback technique with Nasometer is a speech treatment method of VPI that commonly used as one component of a comprehensive procedure for improvement of speech in patients with VPI. In this article describes a case of VPI treated by biofeedback technique with Nasometer; which showed satisfactory result in nasalance and formant analysis after the speech therapy during 9 months.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.57-62
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• 2009

Background and Objectives : There are few studies reported that specifically examine the laryngeal function in patients with profound hearing loss or deafness, This study was designed to examine videostroboscopic findings and phonetic characteristics in adult patients with prelingually deaf. Materials and Method: Sixteen patients (seven males, nine females) diagnosed as prelingually deaf aged from 19 to 54 years, and were compared with a 20 normal control group with no laryngeal pathology and normal hearing group, Videostroboscopic evaluations were rated by experienced judges on various parameters describing the structure and function of the laryngeal mechanism during comfortable pitch and loudness phonations. Acoustic analysis test were done, and a nasalance test performed to measure rabbit, baby, and mother passage. CSL were measured to determine the first and two formant frequencies of vowels /a/, /i/, /u/, Statistical analysis was done using Mann-Whitney U or Wilcoxon signed ranks test. Results: Videostroboscopic findings showed phase symmetry but significantly more occurrences decrement in the amplitude of vibration, mucosal wave, irregularity of the vibration and increased glottal gap size during the closed phase of phonation, In addition, group of prelingually deaf patients were observed to have significantly more occurrences of abnormal supraglottic activities during phonation. The percentage of shimmer in the group of prelingually deaf patients were higher than in the control group. Characteristics of vowels were lower of the second formant of the vowel /i/. Nasalance in prelingually deaf patients showed normal nasality for all passages, Conclusion: Prelingually deaf patients show stroboscopic abnormal findings without any mucosal lesion, suggesting that they have considerable functional voice disorder. We suggest that prelingually deaf adults should perform vocal training for normalized laryngeal function after cochlear implantation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.39-43
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• 2007

Background and Objectives: There are few studies reported that specifically examine the phonetic characteristics and voice handicap index (VHI) in patients with Allergic Rhinitis. This study was designed to examine phonetic characteristics and VHI in adult patients with allergic rhinitis. Materials and Methods: Forty-two male patients diagnosed as allergic rhinitis were given skin-prick test and others, aged from 20 to 56 years, and were compared with a 16 male control group with no pathology and in the same age group. The VHI was used to measure the changes of patient's perception. Acoustic and aerodynamic analysis test were done, and a nasalance test performed to measure rabbit, baby, and mother passage. Acoustic rhionometry (AR) was performed to evaluate nasal volume and nasal crosssectional area. Statistical analysis was done using independent sample t-test. Results: VHI showed significantly different score in the studied group, higher than that of control group. AR graph showed that there was no significant differences of nasal volume and nasal cross-sectional area. The Shimmer and SFF value in the group of allergic patients were higher than in the control group. MPT value in the group of allergic patients was lower than in the control group. Nasalance in allergic patients showed hypernasality all passage. Conclusion: We suggest that patients with allergic rhinitis have considerable voice problems. Most of them have hypernasality, which may be a compensatory mechanism by nasal obstruction.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.871-874
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• 2011

Purpose: In some patients with velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI), Hypernasality can persist after surgical management. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) is applied to these patients for treating hypernasality. The purpose of this study is to report follow-up results of postoperative CPAP therapy. Methods: After performing palatal lengthening, CPAP therapy was applied to three patients for eight weeks from July of 2008 to November of 2009. Perceptual evaluation, nasometry, and nasopharyngeal endoscopy were performed to evaluate hypernasality, nasalance and size of the gap at velopharyngeal port. Each evaluation was made before surgery, right after CPAP therapy and during follow-up of more than a year after CPAP therapy. Results: All of the patients showed improvement in hypernasality right after CPAP therapy according to the auditory perceptual evaluation, nasometry and nasopharyngeal endoscopy. But the improvement in hypernasality in these patients did not last during follow-up. Conclusion: In this study, our results suggest that CPAP therapy is effective in reducing hypernasality for postoperative VPI patients immediately after the therapy, but hypernasality may be worsen in some patients during follow-up. Therefore we recommend follow-ups after CPAP therapy to see if the efficacy of CPAP therapy lasts.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.81-86
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• 2000

Submucous cleft palate is a relatively uncommon congenital anomaly accompanying velopharyngeal incompetence(VPI). Double opposing Z-plasty has many advantages including prolongation of soft palate, normal midfacial growth, midline scar. We analyzed postoperative results comparing with those of preoperative evaluation by several variables(nasometer, endoscopy, satisfactory scale) in 14 patients treated with double opposing Z-plasty due to submcous cleft palate. Nasalance score in Ah sound, Ma phrase, and Pa phrase decreased 20.23%, 3.25%, and 23.26% in the average, respectively. As a result, hypernasality improved significantly. Closure rate in velum evaluated by endoscopy was increased from 0.44 to 0.76. In objective satisfactory scale checked by each patient's guardian at the postoperative period, much improved in 3, improved in 6, minimally improved in 1, and no difference in 1 was reported. (n=11 patients) Double opposing B-plasty is a good surgical modality in patients accompanying VPI with submucous cleft palate or incomplete cleft palate and will be used more usefully and widely.