Effect of a speech aid prosthesis on reducing muscle fatigue

It has been reported that the levator veli palatini muscles of speakers with velopharyngeal incompetence tend to demonstrate muscle fatigue during speech. This study examined whether a speech aid prosthesis might reduce levator muscle fatigue in such speakers. Eight individuals with post-surgical cleft palates, and who wore a speech aid prosthesis, were studied. Each person was asked to pronounce the syllable [pu] more than 50 times. Mean power frequency (MPF) of one syllable was obtained from electromyographic data from the levator muscle. The MPF regression line was calculated during the course of syllable repetition. The absolute values of the slopes of the regression lines with the prosthesis were significantly smaller than those without the prosthesis. It was shown that the prosthesis reduced the decrease in MPF during speech. These results suggested that speech aid prostheses reduce levator muscle fatigue during speech in persons with velopharyngeal incompetence.