Impact of early synchronous lip and palatal repair on speech.

AIMS: The purpose of this study was to describe articulation and resonance characteristics of Ugandan English-speaking children with cleft lip and palate (CLP) after synchronous lip and palatal closure (Sommerlad technique) prior to the age of 6 months in comparison with an age- and gender-matched control group.

METHODS

Eleven Ugandan patients with CLP (mean age 4;9 years), repaired during a synchronous lip and (soft and hard) palatal closure at a mean age of 3.4 months, were included as well as a control group (n = 22) consisting of 2 Ugandan age- and gender-matched noncleft children for each patient (mean age 4;10 years). Objective and perceptual speech assessment techniques were applied.

RESULTS

Consonant inventories were significantly smaller in the CLP group. Moreover, phonetic disorders and phonological processes occurred in 91 and 100% of the CLP group, respectively. Perceptual consensus evaluation revealed absence of hyponasality and cul-de-sac resonance in all patients. Hypernasality and nasal emission/turbulence occurred in 18 and 27% of the patients, respectively. No significant group differences were observed regarding the mean nasalance values of oral speech samples.

CONCLUSION

Various deviations from normal speech development seem to occur in patients with CLP following synchronous lip and palatal closure before 6 months of age.