Abstract
In an effort to obtain information about effects of speech appliance,52 cases (from 3 to 13 years old) with both misarticulation and hypernasality caused by velopharyngeal incompetence were selected. A speech appliance of PLP type was placed, and its pharyngeal section was gradually extended to the Bulb-attached PLP type when necessary. Changes of velopharyngeal closure via nasopharyngeal fiberscope and hypernasality assessmet were followed after the placement of the appliance, and the results were as follows:
1. Assessments of hypernasality after the placement of speech appliance revealed improvement in 48 cases (92.3 %), i. e., normal in 43 cases (82.6 %) and mild hypernasality in 5 cases (9.6 % ).
2. The cases that showed velopharyngeal mobility during blowing prior to the placement of the appliance tended to show more improvement of hypernasality with the speech appliance, i. e., all of the cases of [bvp] showed normal,89.4 % of cases of [m+] showed normal, and 5.3% were mild hypernasality,65 % of cases of [m-] showed normal and 20 % showed mild hypernasality.
3. In cases who achieved VPC during blowing in less than 2 years with speech appliance tended to show more improvement of hypernasality.
4. Seven cases (13.4 %) achieved norm al (no hypernasality) and velopharyngeal competence with the use of the speech appliance, resulting in removal of those appliances without any relapse of hypernasality and misarticulation.
These results indicated that the use of speech appliance is an effective means for problems with velopharyngeal incompetence.
