Related Experiment Videos
Cul-de-sac hypernasality test with pattern recognition of LPC indices
M L Haapanen1, L Liu, T Hiltunen
1Department of Plastic Surgery, Töölö Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
Summary
Nasalance differences in vowels [i], [u], and [a] were studied in women with cleft palate versus healthy women. Cleft palate patients showed significant acoustic changes with nasal obstruction, unlike healthy controls.
Area of Science:
- Speech Science
- Acoustic Phonetics
- Craniofacial Anomalies
Background:
- Individuals with isolated cleft palate often exhibit pathological nasalance, affecting speech acoustics.
- Understanding these acoustic variations is crucial for speech therapy and diagnosis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate acoustic differences in vowel production ([i], [u], [a]) between women with isolated cleft palate and healthy women.
- To determine the impact of nasal obstruction on vowel acoustics in both groups.
Main Methods:
- Speech samples of vowels [i], [u], [a] were collected from 6 women with cleft palate and 9 healthy women.
- Acoustic analysis used 14-component vocal tract area feature vectors derived from linear prediction.
- Differences were analyzed using a self-organized feature map.
Main Results:
- Healthy subjects and cleft palate patients differed acoustically for vowels [i] and [u], but not [a].
- Nasal obstruction significantly altered vowel sample locations on the feature map for patients with cleft palate.
- No significant acoustic changes due to nasal obstruction were observed in healthy subjects.
Conclusions:
- Acoustic properties of vowels [i] and [u] are significantly affected by nasal obstruction in women with isolated cleft palate.
- Self-organized feature maps effectively differentiate speech patterns related to nasalance and velopharyngeal function.