Abstract
Simultaneous nasopharyngeal fiberscope (NPF) and cinefluoroscopic (Cine) recordings were taken to investigate- the followings using four normal individuals speaking typical Mid-West dialect of American English:
1) Stability of NPF positioning for recording procedures.
2) Reproducitivity of NPF positioning.
3) Reliability and validity of the pictures obtained from NPF (NPF view).
4) Temporal reliability of NPF views.
And 5) assessment of velopharyngeal movement with the data of NPF views.
The results indicate that 1) NPF in the velopharynx is highly stable during the examination; 2) a similar positioning of NPF on different occasions will be possible under the condition that the NPF tip maintains a constant dimension with the cranio-vertabral complex; 3) NPF provides highly consistent data about velar and lateral wall movement across different experimental occasions within subjects; 5) the levator veli palatini muscle appeares to be responsible for inward movement of the lateral pharyngeal wall at the level of the levator eminence; and 6) variability of velopharyngeal valving patterns is recognized across subjects.
As a result, it is confirmed that the NPF provides highly useful information for assessment of velopharyngeal closing mechanism in speech research and clinics.
