ABSTRACT
Purpose
To verify the results of speech intelligibility in individuals submitted to primary palatoplasty, according to perceptual analysis by five examiners, experienced or not with the treatment of cleft lip and palate.
Methods
Analysis of spontaneous speech records, registered in audiovisual system, of 78 individuals with repaired cleft lip and palate, of both genders, aged more than 4 years old, submitted to primary palatoplasty. The speech samples were analyzed by five different examiners, who scored the speech intelligibility using a three-point scale (1=good, 2=regular, and 3=bad). The interexaminer agreement was assessed by the Kappa coefficient. The treatment success was analyzed descriptively regarding the proportion of patients according to the postoperative speech intelligibility, as determined by the examiners. Significance between differences was verified by the chi-square test (p<0.05).
Results
The interexaminer agreement ranged from fair to substantial. Full agreement between the five examiners was observed in more than half of cases. Based on the mean values assigned by the examiners, a significant proportion of cases showed good speech intelligibility after palatoplasty.
Conclusion
The present outcomes evidenced adequate speech intelligibility after primary palatoplasty in the majority of cases, suggesting that these individuals are well understood in their social environment. The examiner experience presented to be an important variable in the analysis.
Cleft palate; Speech intelligibility; Speech perception; Velopharyngeal insufficiency; Reconstructive surgical procedures
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