| Children with cleft palate and velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD) often present with disorders of articulation, resonance, and phonation. Although limited, previous research has shown that children with VPD, as reflected by hypernasality, prolong stop segment durations. A respiratory drive hypothesis was proposed to account for these findings. As a test of this hypothesis, the current study proposed relationships between velopharyngeal closing time and both voice onset time (VOT) and stop gap duration for the phonemes /t/ and /d/. Digital audio recordings were obtained from 20 children with cleft palate who produced the syllables / t∧ / and / d∧ /. Pressure-flow measurements were used to determine velopharyngeal closing durations from the word "hamper." Results indicated a tendency (p > .05) for VOT to decrease as velopharyngeal closing time increased. Results also showed tendencies for children with alveolar clefts to have different segment durations (p > .05). Clinical implications are discussed. |
