A radiographic investigation of velar positioning in hearing-impaired young adults

Listener judgments of the presence and severity of hypernasality were made of speech samples from 25 hearing-impaired young adults. These judgments were compared to the results of manometric testing, cephalometric analyses of velar positioning, and analyses of nasal air emission, nasal rustle, and glottal stops. Only two examples of velopharyngeal opening were observed in the radiographic analysis. Also, those subjects judged to be hypernasal failed to exhibit behavior on the other clinical measurements, which was consistent with expectations based on observations of hypernasality in the oral-facial cleft-palate population. The results of this study illustrate the need for continued research into the anatomical and physiological attributes of the perceived hypernasality in the hearing impaired. Also, the remedial consequences of these findings are discussed.