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Cephalometric measurements of the nasopharynx before and after surgery confirmed subsequent changes in VPF. These were suggested to be useful in predicting future VPF. When performing maxillary distraction in patients with cleft palate in the mixed dentition stage, and when velopharyngeal closure is found to occur by velar contact against the hypertrophied adenoid, patients should be counseled about risks of subsequent deterioration in their speech before surgery.

Objective The aims of this study were to examine nasalance score variation for normal adult Japanese speakers of Mid-West dialect and the gender difference in average mean nasalance score. Design Nasalance scores were obtained using a nasometer model 6200. The sample stimulus “Kitsutsuki passage,” constructed of four sentences containing no Japanese nasal sounds, was used three times by each subject. Participants One hundred normal adult speakers (50 women and 50 men) of Japanese served as subjects. The subjects ranged in age from 19 to 35 years of age (24.0 ± 3.2). Main Outcome Measure A mean nasalance score as well as an overall average nasalance value across speakers was calculated for each subject. The average mean nasalance scores between men and women were compared. Results The average mean nasalance score for the normal Japanese speakers was 9.1% (± 3.9). There was no statistically significant sex difference (p < .01). Average mean scores of 9.8% (± 3.5) and 8.3% (± 4.0) were obtained for the female and male speakers, respectively. Conclusions The results provide important information concerning criteria to evaluate hypernasal speech due to velopharyngeal inadequacy of Japanese speakers with cleft palate using the nasometer.

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The purpose of this study was to examine whether the palatoglossus (PG) muscle is involved in the regulation of function during the transition from the oral to the pharyngeal phase. Seven normal adults participated in the study. Smoothed electromyography (EMG) signals of the PG muscle and levator veli palatini (LVP) muscle were collected. Each subject swallowed water at five different volumes: 12.5%, 25%, 50%, 100%, and 150% (or 200%) of his/her optimum swallowing volume. PG muscle waveform showed two patterns of activity: one of a single peak and the other of two peaks. There was no significant difference (p < 0.01) in the timing of emergence between the single peak and the second peak of the two-peak pattern. There were two patterns of PG muscle activity in response to a change in swallowing volume, i.e., one was a pattern in which the activity was correlated to the change in swallowing volume, the other was a pattern in which the activity was not changed but almost at the maximum activity level, irrespective of swallowing volume. We conclude that the PG muscle could be involved in the regulation of swallowing from the oral to the pharyngeal phase. The activity could be influenced by swallowing volume.