INTELLIGIBILITY AND ACCEPTABILITY OF WORDS PRODUCED WITH OBLIGATORY NASAL TURBULENCE (2024)

Undergraduate: Stacy Andrews

Faculty Advisor: David Zajac
Department: UNC Adams School of Dentistry Craniofacial Center

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Children with repaired cleft palate often exhibit nasal turbulence (aka nasal rustle) as an obligatory symptom of velopharyngeal dysfunction. Nasal turbulence is characterized by a distinctive snorting-type sound that accompanies the production of oral pressure consonants. Although nasal turbulence is considered perceptually distracting to a listener (Peterson-Falzone et al., 2010), objective information regarding its effect on either speech intelligibility or acceptability is lacking. Nevertheless, some children are referred for secondary speech surgery when nasal turbulence is the only primary symptom. The purpose of this study was to determine intelligibility and acceptability of words produced with nasal turbulence by children with repaired cleft palate.

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