Abstract
Nasopharyngeal closure requires synchronized movement of the soft palate with sphinctering the nasopharyngeal port by the surrounding musculature in the lateral and posterior walls.
In the treatment of cleft palate patients, it is quite essential to elucidate the underlying complex mechanism by monitoring measurement of the nasopharyngeal components.
Therefore, an attempt has been done to measure pressure in the nasopharynx in these patients with the aid of strain gages placed on the pharyngeal bulb of the speech aid. In this paper, a preliminary experiment to determing pressure-strain relationship of the transducer and the influence of temperature variation to the strain gage in the nasopharynx with a report obtained from one patient.
1) Press ure-strain relationship was linear at 18C and 35°C, and there no was significant difference in them.
2 ) Nasopharyngeal temperature monitored in four patients varied between 34°C; to 36°C at the resting position of the soft palate with no significant change during function.
3) Pressure of the soft palate and lateral and posterior wa lls during various activities could be monitored individually and simultaneously without interfering the function of these sites.
4) Pressure during swallowing was higher than that of phonation. Higher p ressure was needed for plosive consonants /pa/, /pi/, /pu/, /pe/, /po/ than for vowels
.5) In addition to pressure change, time relationship o f the starting point of voice with the starting point and the maximum piont of pressure wave could be measured from the recording.
6) The method proved to be a valuable means to provide objective assessm ent of the nasopharyngeal function and be useful in determing diagnosis and treatment as well as for evaluation in cleft palate patients with nasopharyngeal incompetncy.
