Effects of vocal loudness on nasalance measures

The effects of vocal loudness on measures of nasalance was evaluated. Subjects were 30 young adult females with no history of communication disorder who spoke two stimulus passages at three levels of vocal loudness. One passage contained no nasal consonants (Zoo Passage) and the other contained about 35% nasal consonants (Nasal Sentences). The results indicate that there was no significant difference in nasalance measures across the three levels of vocal loudness for either passage. However, when the nasalance measures for the three conditions of vocal loudness were ranked from low to high for each subject, there was an interesting tendency for a subject's lowest nasalance score to occur in the loudest vocal condition on the Nasal Sentences but not for the non-nasal speech material of the Zoo Passage. The implications of these findings with regard to velopharyngeal function are discussed.