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The impact of early palatal obturation on consonant development in babies with unrepaired cleft palate

Mary A Hardin-Jones1, Kathy L Chapman, Jane Wright

  • 1Division of Communication Disorders, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA. mhardinj@uwyo.edu.

The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal : Official Publication of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association
|March 7, 2002
PubMed

Insights

Palatal obturators did not significantly improve consonant production in babies with cleft palate during babbling. Further research is needed to explore potential benefits for speech development in infants with unrepaired cleft palate.

Area of Science:

  • Speech-language pathology
  • Pediatric audiology
  • Craniofacial anomalies

Background:

  • Babbling is a crucial stage for speech sound development.
  • Cleft palate can impede normal articulation development.
  • Palatal obturators are devices used to manage cleft palate effects.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the effect of palatal obturators on consonant development during babbling in infants with unrepaired cleft palate.
  • To determine if obturator use influences consonant inventory size, place, and manner of production.

Main Methods:

  • A matched-pairs study design was employed.
  • Fourteen infants with cleft palate using obturators were compared to 14 non-obturator users.
  • Spontaneous vocalizations were analyzed for consonant production characteristics.

Main Results:

  • No significant differences were found in consonant inventory size between obturator and non-obturator groups.
  • No significant differences were observed in the place and manner of consonant production.
  • A trend suggested more glottal consonant production in the obturator group.

Conclusions:

  • Palatal obturators do not appear to enhance the production of anterior palatal consonants during babbling in infants with cleft palate.
  • The findings suggest obturators may not facilitate early speech sound acquisition in this population.
  • Further investigation into the role of obturators in speech development is warranted.
Abstract

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