Perceptual Judgments of Resonance, Speech Understandability, and Speech Acceptability in Children with Repaired Cleft Palate Across Words and Sentences

Introduction: In children, even with early repair of the cleft, speech errors such as hypernasality, atypical consonant production, and abnormal nasal airflow persist which affects overall speech intelligibility. Perceptual evaluation is considered as the gold standard in the speech assessment of individuals with cleft lip and palate. Speech intelligibility is an important and essential measure of disordered speech; furthermore, it is a major goal of therapeutic intervention. Various factors such as resonance, speech understandability, and speech acceptability vary across stimuli. Aim and Objectives: The present study investigated resonance, speech understandability, and speech acceptability across stimuli (words versus sentences) through perceptual judgment and also correlation among the same was analyzed. Method: The evaluation included 20 native speakers of Kannada language with repaired cleft palate in the age range between 6 and 12 years. The stimuli considered were ten meaningful Kannada words and ten oral Kannada sentences, both loaded with pressure consonants. Responses were collected and were perceptually rated using Henningsson’s rating scale by three experienced speech-language pathologists. Results: The results revealed no significant difference between words and sentences across resonance, speech understandability, and speech acceptability in the paired t-test. Cronbach’s alpha was computed for words and sentences which indicated higher inter-judge reliability among the three judges (α > 0.70). There was a significant correlation (p < 0.05) among resonance, speech understandability, and speech acceptability in both words and in sentences. Conclusion: The present study concludes that resonance, speech understandability, and speech acceptability do not vary across stimuli in children with cleft lip and palate.