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Nasalance values for syllables produced by Brazilian Portuguese speakers

ABSTRACT

Purpose

This study aimed to determine nasalance values for syllables produced by Brazilian Portuguese speakers of different ages and gender.

Methods

Nasalance scores were collected for 14 syllables (10 orals and 4 nasals) using Nasometer II 6400. The participants were 245 Brazilian Portuguese speakers (121 males and 124 females), both genders, divided into four age groups: 57 children, 61 adolescents, 65 young adults and 62 adults.

Results

Nasalance scores for nasal syllables were higher than for oral syllables. For both, oral and nasal syllables, nasalance scores were higher for vowel /i/ than for /a/. Across all syllables, the females’ nasalance scores were higher than males, with most of this difference attributed to the oldest age group where females mean nasalance was three points higher than males.

Conclusion

Values obtained demonstrated nasalance scores variation according to gender, particularly for the adult group and for the syllables tested.

Keywords:
Acoustics; Speech Acoustics; Speech; Adult; Children; Adolescent

RESUMO

Objetivo

o objetivo do estudo foi estabelecer valores de nasalância para sílabas produzidas por falantes do Português Brasileiro com diferentes idades e sexo.

Métodos

Participaram deste estudo 245 falantes do Português Brasileiro (121 do sexo masculino e 124 do sexo feminino), de ambos os sexos, divididos em quatro grupos de idade: 57 crianças, 61 adolescentes, 65 adultos jovens e 62 adultos. Valores de nasalância foram obtidos para um conjunto de 14 sílabas (dez orais e quatro nasais), utilizando o Nasômetro II 6400.

Resultados

Valores de nasalância mais altos foram encontrados para sílabas nasais quando comparadas às orais e para as sílabas constituídas pela vogal /i/ quando comparadas com a vogal /a/. Valores de nasalância mais altos foram obtidos para mulheres quando comparados aos dos homens e, particularmente, para os adultos.

Conclusão

Valores de nasalância das sílabas produzidas por falantes do Português Brasileiro demonstraram variação quanto às sílabas investigadas e também para variável sexo para falantes adultos.

Descritores:
Acústica; Acústica da Fala; Fala; Adulto; Criança; Adolescente

INTRODUCTION

The speech oronasal balance may be affected in clinical populations in risk for velopharyngeal dysfunction (cleft lip and palate, neuromotor disorders, hearing impairment) and/or in the population with reduced permeability of the upper airways (nasal obstruction and/or nasopharyngeal). The speech pathologist has an essential role in the identification of the oronasal balance changes in different clinical populations, seeking a precise diagnosis and appropriate treatment.

The auditory-perceptual evaluation of the oronasal balance is considered essential for the identification of changes in speech nasality(11 Kuehn D, Moller K. Speech and language issues in the cleft palate population: the state of the art. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2000;37(4):348-83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(2000)037<0348:SALIIT>2.3.CO;2.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(2000...
). Some authors argue that the clinical evaluation can be corroborated with instrumental evaluation including nasometry(22 Brunnegård K, Lohmander A, van Doorn J. Comparison between perceptual assessments of nasality and nasalance scores. Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2012;47(5):556-66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-6984.2012.00165.x. PMid:22938066.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-6984.20...
), while others(33 Mayo CM, Mayo R. Normative nasalance values across languages. ECHO. 2011;6(1):22-32.

4 Kummer AW. Perceptual assessment of resonance and velopharyngeal function. Semin Speech Lang. 2011;32(2):159-67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1055/s-0031-1277718. PMid:21948642.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1055/s-0031-1277718...
-55 Kummer AW. Speech evaluation for patients with cleft palate. Clin Plast Surg. 2014;41(2):241-51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cps.2013.12.004. PMid:24607192.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cps.2013.12....
) emphasize the importance of using direct (videofluoroscopy/nasoendoscopy) and indirect (nasometry/aerodynamic measures) assessment of the velopharyngeal function combined with perceptual assessment of populations with velopharyngeal dysfunction or changes in nasal permeability.

The nasometry, in particular, is an acoustic evaluation technique that provides a physical correlate of speech nasality. Previous studies have shown acceptable levels of agreement between nasalance measures provided by the nasometer and hypernasality perceptual ratings(66 Whitehill TL. Nasalance measures in cantonese-speaking women. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2001;38(2):119-25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(2001)038<0119:NMICSW>2.0.CO;2. PMid:11294539.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(2001...
,77 Sweeney T, Sell D. Relationship between perceptual ratings of nasality and nasometry in children/adolescents with cleft palate and/or velopharyngeal dysfunction. Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2008;43(3):265-82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13682820701438177. PMid:17852526.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13682820701438...
), resulting in the acceptance of the nasometer for clinical and research use(33 Mayo CM, Mayo R. Normative nasalance values across languages. ECHO. 2011;6(1):22-32.,88 Kummer A. Cleft palate and craniofacial anomalies: effects on speech and resonance. Clifton Park: Delmar Cengage Learning; 2008. p. 311-329.). Nasalance measurements were obtained in various studies that aimed to document the oronasal balance presented by population with cleft lip and palate(77 Sweeney T, Sell D. Relationship between perceptual ratings of nasality and nasometry in children/adolescents with cleft palate and/or velopharyngeal dysfunction. Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2008;43(3):265-82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13682820701438177. PMid:17852526.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13682820701438...
), neuromotor diseases(99 Green JR, Yunusova Y, Kuruvilla MS, Wang J, Pattee GL, Synhorst L, et al. Bulbar and speech motor assessment in ALS: challenges and future directions. Amyotroph Lateral Scler Frontotemporal Degener. 2013;14(7-8):494-500. http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/21678421.2013.817585. PMid:23898888.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/21678421.2013....
) and hearing loss(1010 Hassan SM, Malki KH, Mesallam TA, Farahat M, Bukhari M, Murry T. The effect of cochlear implantation on nasalance of speech in postlingually hearing-impaired adults. J Voice. 2012;26(5):669.e17-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jvoice.2011.07.014. PMid:22082866.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jvoice.2011....
,1111 Kim EY, Yoon MS, Kim HH, Nam CM, Park ES, Hong SH. Characteristics of nasal resonance and perceptual rating in prelingual hearing impaired adults. Clin Exp Otorhinolaryngol. 2012;5(1):1-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.3342/ceo.2012.5.1.1. PMid:22468195.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3342/ceo.2012.5.1.1...
).

Standardized speech stimuli were proposed by the American literature to obtain the nasalance values and included an oral text (Zoo Passage), an oronasal text (The Rainbow Passage) and nasal sentences, as summarized in prior literature(33 Mayo CM, Mayo R. Normative nasalance values across languages. ECHO. 2011;6(1):22-32.). Perceptually, high nasalance values obtained for oral text usually correlate with hypernasality. On the other hand, low nasalance values for nasal text correlate with hyponasality(33 Mayo CM, Mayo R. Normative nasalance values across languages. ECHO. 2011;6(1):22-32.).

In general, normative values of nasalance were established for US’ speakers by using the three standard stimuli and, clinically, these stimuli are used with both, adults and children. Alternative stimuli with shorter and with simpler grammar(1212 Watterson T, Hinton J, McFarlane S. Novel stimuli for obtaining nasalance measures from young children. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 1996;33(1):67-73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(1996)033<0067:NSFONM>2.3.CO;2. PMid:8849861.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(1996...
) (oral text Turtle and nasal text Mouse) and even stimuli including six syllables(1313 Watterson T, Lewis KE, Foley-Homan N. Effect of stimulus length on nasalance scores. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 1999;36(3):243-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(1999)036<0243:EOSLON>2.3.CO;2. PMid:10342612.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(1999...
) were suggested for use with children.. The Simplified Nasometric Assessment Procedure (SNAP Test) was particularly proposed for use with children(1414 Mackay IR, Kummer AW. Simplified nasometric assessment procedures. Lincoln Park: Kay Elemetrics; 1994.) and consists of three subtests. One of these subtests consists of a set of syllables that contain an oral pressure consonant (plosive, fricative, affricate), or a nasal consonant followed by a vowel. The use of syllables’ repetition in the subtest was suggested to favor identification of resonance changes(1414 Mackay IR, Kummer AW. Simplified nasometric assessment procedures. Lincoln Park: Kay Elemetrics; 1994.) by the evaluator since nasalance values for speech stimuli with consonant recurrence (as occurs during repetition of syllables) can be more easily compared and thus facilitate the interpretation of the findings.

Literature(88 Kummer A. Cleft palate and craniofacial anomalies: effects on speech and resonance. Clifton Park: Delmar Cengage Learning; 2008. p. 311-329.) reports 10 percentage points higher in nasalance values for the vowel /i/ as compared with the vowel /a/, since the low vowels, in contrast to high, have relatively lower tongue position, which reduces the oral impedance of the sound. Furthermore, the size of the oral cavity during production of the lower vowels could result in a more pronounced oral resonance. Studies have shown that speech stimuli predominantly constituted by the vowel /i/ resulted in higher nasalance values than those obtained for low vowels since the higher vowels have higher nasal intensity than the low vowels(1515 Lewis KE, Watterson T, Quint T. The effect of vowels on nasalance scores. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2000;37(6):584-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(2000)037<0584:TEOVON>2.0.CO;2. PMid:11108528.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(2000...

16 Gildersleeve-Neumann CE, Dalston RM. Nasalance scores in noncleft individuals: why not zero? Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2001;38(2):106-11. http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(2001)038<0106:NSINIW>2.0.CO;2. PMid:11294537.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(2001...
-1717 Lewis KE, Watterson T. Comparison of nasalance scores obtained from the nasometer and the nasal view. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2003;40(1):40-5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(2003)040<0040:CONSOF>2.0.CO;2. PMid:12498604.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(2003...
).

Normative nasalance values during repetition of syllables were obtained for speakers of American English(1818 Kummer AW. The MacKay-Kummer SNAP Test-R: simplified nasometric assessment procedures. KayPENTAX; 2005 [citado em 2015 Jun 10]. Disponível em: https://www.google.com.br/?gws_rd=ssl#q=The+MacKay-Kummer+SNAP+Test-R:+Simplified+nasometric+assessment+procedures
https://www.google.com.br/?gws_rd=ssl#q=...
) and Marathi(1919 Nandurkar A. Nasalance measures in Marathi consonant-vowel consonant syllables with pressure consonants produced by children with and without cleft lip and palate. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2002;39(1):59-65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(2002)039<0059:NMIMCV>2.0.CO;2. PMid:11772171.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(2002...
), Turkish(2020 Sarac ET, Kayikci ME, Ozkan S. Nasality evaluation of Turkish phonemes in vowel-consonant combinations. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2011;75(7):894-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2011.03.031. PMid:21612830.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2011....
), Egyptian(2121 Abou-Elsaad T, Quriba A, Baz H, Elkassaby R. Standardization of nasometry for normal Egyptian arabic speakers. Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2012;64(6):271-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999. PMid:23328484.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999...
) and Ugandan English dialect(2222 Luyten A, D’haeseleer E, Hodges A, Galiwango G, Budolfsen T, Vermeersch H, et al. Normative nasalance data in Ugandan english-speaking children. Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2012;64(3):131-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000338235. PMid:22627117.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000338235...
), as well as for adults speakers of Greek(2323 Okalidou A, Karathanasi A, Grigoraki E. Nasalance norms in Greek adults. Clin Linguist Phon. 2011;25(8):671-88. http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/02699206.2010.549993. PMid:21668367.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/02699206.2010....
). One of these studies, in particular, determined the nasalance values for Egyptian language speakers, and checked the effect of gender and age in these values(2121 Abou-Elsaad T, Quriba A, Baz H, Elkassaby R. Standardization of nasometry for normal Egyptian arabic speakers. Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2012;64(6):271-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999. PMid:23328484.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999...
). Jointly, the findings reported in these studies indicated higher nasalance values for the nasal syllables than oral syllables, and higher nasalance values for syllables including the vowel /i/ as compared to the syllables including the vowel /a/. Differences in nasalance values between syllables (vowel /a/ versus vowel /i/) varied between 10 and 20 points for speakers of Egyptian(2121 Abou-Elsaad T, Quriba A, Baz H, Elkassaby R. Standardization of nasometry for normal Egyptian arabic speakers. Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2012;64(6):271-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999. PMid:23328484.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999...
). Furthermore, for the Egyptian population, nasalance values for syllables varied according to the age, with higher values for adults speakers. There was an effect of gender for the oral syllables including the vowel /a/, with higher values for female speakers of Egyptian language(2121 Abou-Elsaad T, Quriba A, Baz H, Elkassaby R. Standardization of nasometry for normal Egyptian arabic speakers. Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2012;64(6):271-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999. PMid:23328484.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999...
).

In Brazilian Portuguese, more specifically, we have not yet established nasalance values during the production of syllables. Previous studies have established the first normative nasalance values for Brazilian Portuguese speakers, with different age groups, using oral texts(2424 Trindade IEK, Genaro KF, Dalston RM. Nasalance scores of normal Brazilian Portuguese speakers. Braz J Dysmorphol Speech Hear Disord. 1997;1:23-34.) or single word (“papai”)(2525 Di Ninno CQMS, Vieira JM, Teles-Magalhães LC, Padovani CR, Pegoraro-Krook MI. Determinação dos valores de nasalância para falantes normais do Português Brasileiro. Pro Fono. 2001;13(1):71-7.). Both speech stimuli proposed in the Brazilian Portuguese language did not aim to control the effect of the vowels in nasalance values. As reported in the literature(88 Kummer A. Cleft palate and craniofacial anomalies: effects on speech and resonance. Clifton Park: Delmar Cengage Learning; 2008. p. 311-329.), the control of vowels in speech stimuli can provide important information on the functioning of the velopharyngeal mechanism. Some researchers(1717 Lewis KE, Watterson T. Comparison of nasalance scores obtained from the nasometer and the nasal view. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2003;40(1):40-5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(2003)040<0040:CONSOF>2.0.CO;2. PMid:12498604.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(2003...
) emphasize that nasometry should be used to corroborate nasality clinical ratings and therefore, it is prudent to take into account the natural oronasal intensity characteristics of vowels (especially the vowel /i/), particularly when interpreting the findings obtained by the nasometer.

Considering that normative nasalance values for Brazilian Portuguese speakers were determined only during production of texts and isolated words, this study aimed to establish nasalance values for syllables produced by speakers of Brazilian Portuguese. The study also aimed to characterize nasalance for these speech stimuli regarding the possible effects of age and sex.

METHODS

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee on Human Research of the institution of origin, under number 0657/2013. The data analyzed in this study are part of a broader research analyzed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” in Marília, São Paulo, Brazil.

Participants

Individuals who participated in this study were properly informed regarding the study’s procedures and signed an informed consent form. In this study, only nasalance values obtained during syllable repetitions were of interest.

Children, adolescents, young adults and adults, speakers of Brazilian Portuguese from the Midwest region of the State of São Paulo, were recruited from local schools, universities and the community. A speech pathologist conducted interviews to confirm the absence of syndromes or other conditions that could affect the performance of the participants during the recording task, and also to check if they had previously received speech therapy and reported normal hearing. Interviews were conducted with parents and/or teachers of the participating children and teenagers, while adults were interviewed directly. The study included only participants who had fluency, voice, and normal speech production and who had no resonance changes as judged by the speech pathologist at the moment of data collection. Participants were excluded if they presented with nasal congestion (due to a cold, for example) or nasal obstruction (as found by Glatzel mirror test) at the time of the nasometric evaluation, and also were excluded when they were unable to repeat the syllables of interest. After meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 245 participants were included in this study. Participants were divided into four groups according to age. The younger groups, G1 and G2, were divided according to the World Health Organization classification for children (5-9 years) and adolescents (10-19 years)(2626 WHO: World Health Organization. Young people´s health: a challenge for society. Report of a WHO study group on young people and health for all. Geneva: WHO; 1986. (Technical Report Series; 731).). The third group G3 consisted of young adults aged 20-24 years, according to the literature(2727 Eisenstein E. Adolescência: definições, conceitos e critérios. Adolesc Saude. 2005;2(2):6-7.). The fourth group G4 includes adults aged 25-35 years. The proportion of participants per group was as follows: 23% for G1 with 57 children (27M, 30F) with a mean age of 7y8m (SD=1y1m), 24% for G2, 61 adolescents (30M, 31F) with mean age of 15y (SD=2y6m), 27% for G3 with 65 young adults (34M, 31F) with a mean age of 22y2m (SD=1y4m) and 26% for G4, 62 adults (30M, 32F) with mean age of 29y8m (SD=3y2m).

Speech stimuli

The speech stimuli of interest included a set of 14 syllables adapted fromMacKay-Kummer SNAP Test-R(1818 Kummer AW. The MacKay-Kummer SNAP Test-R: simplified nasometric assessment procedures. KayPENTAX; 2005 [citado em 2015 Jun 10]. Disponível em: https://www.google.com.br/?gws_rd=ssl#q=The+MacKay-Kummer+SNAP+Test-R:+Simplified+nasometric+assessment+procedures
https://www.google.com.br/?gws_rd=ssl#q=...
). In this set of syllables, 5 consisted of oral consonants followed by vowel /a/ (pa, ta, ka sa, ∫a), 5 consisted of oral consonants followed by the vowel /i/ (pi, ti, ki si, ∫i), 2 consisted of nasal consonants followed by the vowel /a/ (ma, na) and 2 consisted of nasal consonants followed by the vowel /i/ (mi, ni).

Procedures

Nasalance was obtained using the Nasometer II 6400 (KayPentax, NJ, EUA). All nasalance measures and recordings took place in a quiet room acoustically prepared for speech recording. The Nasometer was calibrated daily before the data collection, according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Participants were fitted with the Nasometer’s headgear with the sound separator plate positioned between the nose and upper lip, also according to the manufacturer instructions. The examiner checked the separator plate regularly to ensure proper positioning throughout the evaluation. Each participant was asked to repeat the syllables using habitual pitch and loudness for two seconds until there was, at least, 6 syllables and a maximum of 10 syllables, on the computer screen, as demonstrated by the nasogram displayed in this screen. The mean nasalance value for each participant was calculated using the nasometer’s software. When the participant made a mistake during the repetition of the stimulus, he/she was asked to repeat the selected stimulus and the revised version was saved and used for the data analysis. The order of syllables presentation was the same for all participants.

Data analysis

Data were analyzed using SPSS version 8.0. The nasalance values were analyzed using General Linear Models (GLM) and Tukey Multiple Comparison (post hoc) for paired comparison of the levels. The significance level for paired comparisons was p=0.05.

RESULTS

Mean nasalance (and standard deviation) for each of the 14 syllables produced by the 245 participants, according to the age group and gender are shown in Table 1.

Table 1
Average values (±standard deviation) of nasalance for the syllables produced by the 245 participants, according to the age group (Group 1: 5-9 years old; Group 2: 10-19 years old; Group 3: 10-19 years old; Group 4: 25-35 years old) and gender (M: male; F: female)

The GLM model was used to measure the effects of age (4 groups), gender (2 groups), and syllables (14 groups). There was a main effect for syllables (F(13;3317=6110, p<0.001) and gender (F(1;3317=42.29, p<0.001), and interaction for age*gender (F(3;3317=6.16, p<0.001). There was no main effect for age (F(3;3317=1.59, p=0.189), there was no effect for age*syllables (F(39;3317=1.40, p=0.051) and for gender*syllables (F(13;3317=1.72, p=0.051), as well as there was no effect for age*gender and syllables (F(39;3317=0.29, p=1.000).

Significant effects were analyzed by Turkey’s test (post hoc), with significance established at 0.05. For the syllable variable, the mean nasalance values for syllable followed by the vowel /i/ were statistically higher (p<0.001) than those obtained for the corresponding consonant followed by the vowel /a/ (Table 2).

Table 2
Average values (±standard deviation) of nasalance for the 14 syllables produced by the 245 participants

For the variable gender, the overall mean nasalance value for females, considering all ages and all oral and nasal syllables was significantly higher (29.73; SD=27.17) than the males (28.48; SD=29.43) (p-value<0.001).

For the age*gender interaction, considering all syllables (oral and nasal), the mean nasalance value was significantly higher (p<0.001) for older women (30.52; SD=28.79) than for men in the same age group (27.74; SD=28.92).

DISCUSSION

The main goal of this study was to establish nasalance values for syllables produced by Brazilian Portuguese speakers, adopting the hypothesis that oral syllables would present nasalance values lower than the nasal syllables. We also expected that syllables with the vowel /i/ would present with higher nasalance values than the syllables with the vowel /a/, both for oral and nasal stimuli. The main effect analysis for syllable type and post hoc comparisons confirm these hypotheses. The current data also corroborates findings from previous studies that showed higher nasalance values for nasal syllables than oral syllables for speakers of American English(1818 Kummer AW. The MacKay-Kummer SNAP Test-R: simplified nasometric assessment procedures. KayPENTAX; 2005 [citado em 2015 Jun 10]. Disponível em: https://www.google.com.br/?gws_rd=ssl#q=The+MacKay-Kummer+SNAP+Test-R:+Simplified+nasometric+assessment+procedures
https://www.google.com.br/?gws_rd=ssl#q=...
), Turkish(2020 Sarac ET, Kayikci ME, Ozkan S. Nasality evaluation of Turkish phonemes in vowel-consonant combinations. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2011;75(7):894-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2011.03.031. PMid:21612830.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2011....
), as well as adult speakers of Greek(2323 Okalidou A, Karathanasi A, Grigoraki E. Nasalance norms in Greek adults. Clin Linguist Phon. 2011;25(8):671-88. http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/02699206.2010.549993. PMid:21668367.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/02699206.2010....
) and for children, adolescents and adult speakers of the Egyptian language(2121 Abou-Elsaad T, Quriba A, Baz H, Elkassaby R. Standardization of nasometry for normal Egyptian arabic speakers. Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2012;64(6):271-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999. PMid:23328484.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999...
). These findings were expected since higher nasalance values are associated to the nasal consonants included in the nasal syllables. Obtaining nasalance values for nasal syllables is seen as relevant to the assessment of hyponasality resulting from upper airways obstruction.

The results of this study also confirmed previous findings that indicated higher nasalance values for syllables including the vowel /i/ than for the corresponding syllables followed by the vowel /a/(1818 Kummer AW. The MacKay-Kummer SNAP Test-R: simplified nasometric assessment procedures. KayPENTAX; 2005 [citado em 2015 Jun 10]. Disponível em: https://www.google.com.br/?gws_rd=ssl#q=The+MacKay-Kummer+SNAP+Test-R:+Simplified+nasometric+assessment+procedures
https://www.google.com.br/?gws_rd=ssl#q=...
,2020 Sarac ET, Kayikci ME, Ozkan S. Nasality evaluation of Turkish phonemes in vowel-consonant combinations. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2011;75(7):894-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2011.03.031. PMid:21612830.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2011....
,2121 Abou-Elsaad T, Quriba A, Baz H, Elkassaby R. Standardization of nasometry for normal Egyptian arabic speakers. Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2012;64(6):271-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999. PMid:23328484.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999...
). Closer inspection of the current results revealed that difference between nasalance values for the vowels /a/ and /i/ ranged between 8 and 20 points. These findings agree with those obtained previously by other researchers(1818 Kummer AW. The MacKay-Kummer SNAP Test-R: simplified nasometric assessment procedures. KayPENTAX; 2005 [citado em 2015 Jun 10]. Disponível em: https://www.google.com.br/?gws_rd=ssl#q=The+MacKay-Kummer+SNAP+Test-R:+Simplified+nasometric+assessment+procedures
https://www.google.com.br/?gws_rd=ssl#q=...
,2121 Abou-Elsaad T, Quriba A, Baz H, Elkassaby R. Standardization of nasometry for normal Egyptian arabic speakers. Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2012;64(6):271-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999. PMid:23328484.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999...
,2828 Hirschberg J, Bok S, Juhasz M, Trenovszki Z, Votisky P, Hirschberg A. Adaptation of nasometry to Hungarian language and experiences with its clinical application. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2006;70(5):785-98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2005.09.017. PMid:16246433.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2005....
). According to the literature(1818 Kummer AW. The MacKay-Kummer SNAP Test-R: simplified nasometric assessment procedures. KayPENTAX; 2005 [citado em 2015 Jun 10]. Disponível em: https://www.google.com.br/?gws_rd=ssl#q=The+MacKay-Kummer+SNAP+Test-R:+Simplified+nasometric+assessment+procedures
https://www.google.com.br/?gws_rd=ssl#q=...
), these findings were also expected since lower vowels, in contrast to higher, have relatively lower tongue position, which decreases oral sound impedance. Furthermore, the size of the oral cavity during production of the lower vowels could result in a more pronounced oral resonance.

It was adopted as a secondary hypothesis of this study, that age and gender have no significant effects on nasalance values obtained during syllable repetitions. This hypothesis, however, was only partially confirmed. When considering all the syllables (oral and nasal), nasalance values for women (mean=29.73, SD=29.17) were significantly higher than nasalance values for men (mean=28.48, SD=29.43). This difference can be explained by the higher nasalance values (mean=30.52, SD=28.79) for the adult females than those found for the adult males with similar age (mean=27.74, SD=28.92). A previous study also found a trend toward higher values for females when compared to males during production of oral syllables including the vowel /a/(2121 Abou-Elsaad T, Quriba A, Baz H, Elkassaby R. Standardization of nasometry for normal Egyptian arabic speakers. Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2012;64(6):271-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999. PMid:23328484.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999...
). The literature(88 Kummer A. Cleft palate and craniofacial anomalies: effects on speech and resonance. Clifton Park: Delmar Cengage Learning; 2008. p. 311-329.) reports that speech nasalance can be affected by the speaker’s gender. However, prior study involving speakers of Brazilian Portuguese(2424 Trindade IEK, Genaro KF, Dalston RM. Nasalance scores of normal Brazilian Portuguese speakers. Braz J Dysmorphol Speech Hear Disord. 1997;1:23-34.) reported that the difference between genders for the population studied, when present, was only 2 percentage points and therefore there was no clinical significance.

In this study, there was no significant difference in nasalance values between the age groups evaluated, disagreeing with the study of Greek speakers(2121 Abou-Elsaad T, Quriba A, Baz H, Elkassaby R. Standardization of nasometry for normal Egyptian arabic speakers. Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2012;64(6):271-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999. PMid:23328484.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999...
) showing differences between age groups (children, adolescents and adults) with consistent increase in nasalance values for adults. In a previous study involving Brazilian Portuguese speakers(2424 Trindade IEK, Genaro KF, Dalston RM. Nasalance scores of normal Brazilian Portuguese speakers. Braz J Dysmorphol Speech Hear Disord. 1997;1:23-34.), the authors reported lower nasalance values for children compared with adolescents and adults, during production of an oral text. Although the increase in adults nasalance values can be explained by larger sizes of oral and nasal cavities with increasing age(2929 Rochet AP, Rochet BL, Sovis EA, Mielke DL. Characteristics of nasalance in speakers of western Canadian English and French. J Speech Lang Pathol Audiol. 1998;22(2):94-103.), this fact has not been observed by other authors(66 Whitehill TL. Nasalance measures in cantonese-speaking women. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2001;38(2):119-25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(2001)038<0119:NMICSW>2.0.CO;2. PMid:11294539.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(2001...
). Moreover, the literature indicates that although statistically significant, differences in nasalance values reported between children and adults are usually within three perceptual points, and may not be clinically significant(33 Mayo CM, Mayo R. Normative nasalance values across languages. ECHO. 2011;6(1):22-32.).

The literature points out the relevance of information derived from speech stimulus involving syllables repetition to infer the status of velopharyngeal function, more specifically when the studied population presents with subtle changes of speech nasality(88 Kummer A. Cleft palate and craniofacial anomalies: effects on speech and resonance. Clifton Park: Delmar Cengage Learning; 2008. p. 311-329.). The information obtained in the present study, therefore, can contribute with the clinical assessment of resonance disorders, as it provides an acoustic correlate of speech nasality for a group of specific sounds, particularly, when takes into account the effects of the vowels.

The current data will be helpful during evaluation of different clinical populations of Brazilian Portuguese speakers (with cleft lip and palate, neuromotor disorders or hearing impairment). It is clinically accepted that interpretation of nasalance values obtained for clinical populations require comparisons with normative values established for each particular language. Therefore, it is essential to consider the language effect in nasalance values of syllables. It is important to avoid comparing nasalance values between different languages such as featured in a previous study(2121 Abou-Elsaad T, Quriba A, Baz H, Elkassaby R. Standardization of nasometry for normal Egyptian arabic speakers. Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2012;64(6):271-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999. PMid:23328484.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000343999...
) comparing the scores for the Egyptian language with those reported for North American English(1818 Kummer AW. The MacKay-Kummer SNAP Test-R: simplified nasometric assessment procedures. KayPENTAX; 2005 [citado em 2015 Jun 10]. Disponível em: https://www.google.com.br/?gws_rd=ssl#q=The+MacKay-Kummer+SNAP+Test-R:+Simplified+nasometric+assessment+procedures
https://www.google.com.br/?gws_rd=ssl#q=...
). Future studies involving nasalance values obtained during syllable repetition for different clinical populations are still needed. It is expected that the use of syllables in studies involving clinical populations may provide information, which contribute to assessments of speech oronasal balance.

CONCLUSION

Nasalance values of syllables produced by Brazilian Portuguese speakers showed variation in the investigated stimuli, with higher values for nasal syllables when compared to oral syllables, and also higher values for stimuli including the vowel /i/ as compared to the vowel /a/. There was also variation in nasalance values of syllables for the variable gender, particularly for adults, since women from this age group had higher nasalance values than men of similar ages.

  • Study carried out at School of Philosophy and Sciences, Universidade Estadual Paulista – UNESP - Marília (SP), Brazil.
  • Financial support: São Paulo Research Foundation (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) – FAPESP.

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Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    4 July 2016
  • Date of issue
    May-Jun 2016

History

  • Received
    10 June 2015
  • Accepted
    23 Aug 2015
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