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Nasometry cooperation in children 4-6 years of age
P van der Heijden1, H H F Hobbel, B F A M van der Laan
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
Insights
Children aged six and older generally cooperate well with nasometry for evaluating hypernasality. Cooperation in five-year-olds varies by setting, with schools showing better results than clinics, while four-year-olds often struggle to cooperate.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Speech Pathology
- Craniofacial Anomalies
- Clinical Assessment Tools
Background:
- Hypernasality is a frequent complication in cleft care, necessitating early intervention before age six to prevent speech sound development issues.
- Nasometry provides an objective measure of nasalance but requires patient cooperation, which varies significantly in young children.
- Understanding age-related and setting-specific cooperation is crucial for effective nasometry use in pediatric populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the minimum age for adequate cooperation with nasometry in children.
- To compare cooperation levels between school and ENT outpatient clinic settings for nasometry assessment.
- To inform clinical practice regarding the optimal age and setting for evaluating hypernasality in young children.
Main Methods:
- Recruited children aged 4-6 years from schools and an ENT outpatient clinic.
- Administered nasometry assessments to all participants.
- Quantified cooperation during device setup and speech stimulus repetition.
Main Results:
- Six-year-olds demonstrated significantly better cooperation than five-year-olds, who in turn cooperated better than four-year-olds.
- School children exhibited significantly higher cooperation rates compared to children in the ENT outpatient clinic setting.
- Cooperation in five-year-olds was influenced by the assessment environment.
Conclusions:
- Children aged six years and above typically show good cooperation with nasometry.
- For five-year-olds, cooperation is setting-dependent, favoring school environments over outpatient clinics.
- Four-year-olds often exhibit insufficient cooperation, likely due to age-appropriate behavioral variability.
Objective:
Hypernasality is a common problem in cleft care. It should be treated before the age of six, because of the impact it can have on speech sound development in young children. An objective method of nasalance evaluation is nasometry. Cooperation of young children, by nature, differs over time and situations. First aim of this study is to indicate a minimum age for cooperation with the nasometer. Second aim is to compare the cooperation of children in the most used research setting (school) with the cooperation of children in the most used setting in daily practice (ENT outpatient clinic).
Method:
Children from four to six years of age were recruited from schools. Outpatient clinic children were recruited from the Groningen ENT clinic. Both groups were tested with the nasometer. The cooperation with installation and repetition of speech stimuli were noted.
Results:
118 school children and 41 outpatient clinic children were recruited. Six years old children cooperated significantly better than the five years old. The five years old cooperated better than the four years old. Moreover, school children cooperated significantly better than the outpatient children.
Conclusion:
Most children of 6 years of age and older, will show good cooperation with nasometry. In children aged 5, cooperation depends on the situation in which the nasometer is used. In a school setting the cooperation is better than in an outpatient clinic setting. In the 4 years old children the cooperation with the nasometer often is insufficient, probably due to normal, unpredictable cooperative behavior belonging to this age.
