Speech rate of compensatory articulation in patients with cleft lip and palate

Due to a primary insufficiency of the velopharyngeal valve, many patients with cleft tip and palate exhibit secondary compensatory articulation. Using two new computer programs, we examined the effect of compensatory articulation on the mean rate of speech production in 146 patients with cleft lip and palate. Patients were grouped according to severity of articulatory dysfunction. In a rapid syllable repetition task, the mean rate of syllables per second was found to be significantly reduced in patients with severe compensatory articulation. In a sentence repetition task, the mean total time was significantly increased for these patients and the beginning of the target word was significantly delayed. The results show that the mean rate of speech is significantly reduced in patients with cleft lip and palate who exhibit compensatory palatolalic articulation. Copyright (C) 1999 S. Karger AG, Basel.