Standardization of nasometry for normal Egyptian Arabic speakers

Area of Science:

• Speech-Language Pathology
• Oto-rhino-laryngology
• Linguistics

Background:

• Assessing nasality is crucial for diagnosing speech disorders.
• Existing nasalance norms may not accurately represent diverse linguistic populations.
• Developing culturally specific normative data is essential for accurate clinical assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish normative nasalance values for Egyptian Arabic speakers across different age groups.
• To provide a reference for identifying and comparing patients with disturbed nasality.
• To adapt and validate speech tasks for the Egyptian dialect.

Main Methods:

• 300 healthy Egyptian volunteers were divided into three age groups: children, teenagers, and adults.
• The Nasometer II 6400 was used to analyze speech samples.
• Adapted speech tasks from the MacKay-Kummer SNAP Test-R were administered.

Main Results:

• Normative nasalance values were determined for Egyptian Arabic speakers.
• Significant variations in nasalance scores were observed based on age and gender.
• Egyptian children's nasalance norms showed statistically significant differences compared to the MacKay-Kummer Test-R norms.

Conclusions:

• The Egyptian Arabic SNAP test provides an objective and noninvasive method for assessing nasality.
• The developed test is suitable for use across all age groups in the Egyptian population.
• This study contributes valuable normative data for speech assessment in Arabic speakers.