Santoni C, Thaut M, Bressmann T. Immediate effects of voice focus adjustments on hypernasal speakers' nasalance scores.
Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2020;
135:110107. [PMID:
32480137 DOI:
10.1016/j.ijporl.2020.110107]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2020] [Revised: 05/06/2020] [Accepted: 05/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
To explore the immediate effects of voice focus adjustments on the oral-nasal balance of hypernasal speakers, measured with nasalance scores.
METHODS
Five hypernasal speakers (2 M, 3 F) aged 5-12 (SD 2.7) learned to speak with extreme forward and backward voice focus. Speakers repeated oral, nasal, and phonetically balanced stimuli. Nasalance scores were collected with the Nasometer 6450.
RESULTS
From the average baseline of 34.27% for the oral stimulus, nasalance increased to 46.07% in forward and decreased to 30.2% in backward focus. From the average baseline of 64.53% for the nasal stimulus, nasalance decreased to 64.13% in forward and decreased to 51.73% in backward focus. From the average baseline of 51.33% for the phonetically balanced stimulus, nasalance increased to 58.87% in forward and decreased to 46.2% in backward focus.
CONCLUSIONS
Forward voice focus resulted in higher and backward voice focus resulted in lower nasalance scores during speech for a group of hypernasal speakers. However, there was an exception: One male speaker showed decreased nasalance in forward voice focus. Future research should investigate the longer-term effectiveness of the intervention.
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