Evaluation of the relationship of speech disorders and anatomical and functional structure in individuals with cleft lip and palate

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of anatomical and functional structures of CLP patients and to evaluate the effects of anomalies in these structures on speech sound formation. Method: The entire study group consisted of 117 patients aged between 5-32, with a mean age of 11.295.26, from patients with palate only, unilateral/bilateral cleft lip / cleft lip and palate who were routinely followed-up. Anatomical and functional problems were evaluated with clinical examination and lateral cephalometric radiographs. Nasal leakage was examined by straw test and mirror test. To determine the incorrectly produced sound's the Phonetic-Phonological Test and the Speech Resonance Evaluation Test were applied. Chi-Square test and Mann-Whitney U test were used. The margin of error was evaluated with α=0.05 (or 95% significance level). Results: The presence of fistula in the incisive foramen, incorrectly produced sound's were observed to be significantly higher (p<0.05). Nasal escape was found to be significant in patients with fistula on the hard palate (p<0.05). In patients with nasal leakage, errors are observed in pressure-sensitive sounds. Bilabial sounds in lip position differences; alveolar trill sounds in decreased palate depth; alveolar fricative sounds in the presence of posterior crossbite; alveolar fricative, postalveolar fricative, postalveolar affricative sounds in the presence of a retrusive upper incisors, were incorrectly produced. Except from alveolar plosive and alveolar lateral approximant all other sounds incorrectly produced with overjet and overbite changes were found statistically significant relationship. In the cephalometric examination of the velopharyngeal region, there was no statistically significant relationship between anatomical structure and speech disorder. Conclusion: The presence and location of the fistula, the increase in negative overjet and openbite were effective on speech sounds errors. The rate of nasal leakage and incorrectly produced sound in BCLP patients is higher than the other groups.