音声言語医学における最近の進歩

抄録

The paper presents some aspects in logopedics and phoniatrics which appears to be of the greatest clinical interest for otolaryngologists in the recent few years. The description is based upon 504 publications contributed by members of the Japan Society of Logopedics and Phoniatrics.
1. Delayed development of speech. Whenever one sees a child with speech delayed, he should keep, at least, the following possible causes in his mind: mental retardation, hearing impairment, motor disturbances of the speech organs such as cerebral palsy, brain injuries which may cause developmental aphasia, emotional disturbances, general weakness, and unfavorable speech environment.
2. Cleft palate speech. Many clinicians agree that the age appropriate to the first surgery is from one to two years after the birth because of better speech results in cases operated in this period than cases first operated after two years of age. Surgery at the age less than one year seems to be a subject to further discussion. For cases which have received surgery, various functional tests of nasopharyngeal competency have been proposed: auditory judgement of nasality, inspection, blowing tests, examination of nasal leakage of foods, X-ray investigation, aerodynamic tests, acoustical tests, electromyography, and so on.
3. Voice tests. In order to evaluate the vocal function objectively, the Committee for Clinical Examination of Voice Disorders has proposed several test items for clinical use: maximum phonation time, phonation quotient (vital capacity/maximum phonation time), classification of hoarse voice, vocal range, and speech level. Typical findings in these tests for various voice disorders are presented.