de Boer G, Marino VCDC, Dutka JDCR, Pegoraro-Krook MI, Bressmann T. Nasalance-Based Preclassification of Oral-Nasal Balance Disorders Results in Higher Agreement of Expert Listeners' Auditory-Perceptual Assessments: Results of a Retrospective Listening Study.
Cleft Palate Craniofac J 2019;
57:448-457. [PMID:
31537110 DOI:
10.1177/1055665619873506]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
Reliable perceptual and instrumental assessment of oral-nasal balance disorders is a persistent problem in speech-language pathology. The goal of the study was to evaluate whether nasalance-based preclassification of oral-nasal balance disorders improves listener agreement.
DESIGN
Retrospective listening study.
SETTING
Tertiary university hospital.
PARTICIPANTS
Fifty-four randomly selected recordings of patients with repaired unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP). Three experienced speech-language pathologists participated as expert listeners.
INTERVENTIONS
Two listening experiments were based on nasalance scores and audio recordings of speakers with repaired UCLP. The speakers were preclassified as normal, hypernasal, hyponasal, or mixed based on their nasalance scores. Initially, the listeners determined the diagnostic category of the oral-nasal balance for 62 audio recordings (8 repeats). Six months later, they listened to 38 of the recordings (6 repeats) along with a spreadsheet indicating the nasalance-based categories for the oral-nasal balance. The listeners confirmed, or rejected and corrected, the nasalance-based preclassification.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Intralistener, interlistener agreement, and agreement between listener categories and nasalance-based oral-nasal balance categories.
RESULTS
In the first study, the agreement between the listeners' diagnostic category and the nasalance-based category was 45.1% and the interlistener agreement was 36.7%. In the second study, the agreement between the listeners' category and the nasalance-based category was 67.1% (75% agreement for the correct nasalance-based categories and 41.7% for the misclassifications), and the interlistener agreement was 85.4%.
CONCLUSIONS
Preclassification of oral-nasal balance disorders based on nasalance scores may help listeners achieve better diagnostic accuracy and higher agreement.
Collapse