Articulations of Maxillarily Defected Patients after Tumor Operation and the Effectiveness of a Maxillary Prosthesis on their Speech

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to clarify the articulations of maxillarily defected patients after tumor operation and to clarify the effectiveness of a maxillary prosthesis on their speech. The subjects were 9 patients wearing maxillary prostheses for their maxillary defects. We conducted 4 tests for each patient with and without a maxillary prosthesis: a hypernasality test, articulation test, blowing test, and speech intelligibility test. Articulation disorder, nasal air emission, and speech intelligibility all improved by wearing a maxillary prosthesis. When a maxillary prosthesis was not worn, unvoiced consonants tended to be misheard as fricative consonants, and voiced consonants as nasal consonants.
It is thought that without a prosthesis maxillary defect causes increased nasal escape and unstable articulation positions. The improved speech by wearing a prosthesis suggests that maxillary prostheses are effective as a treatment against maxillarily defective speech.