ABSTRACT
Objective : To obtain normative data for nasalance scores in Middle Eastern English-speaking adult population
Design : Cross-sectional study
Participants : A total of 102 subjects were recruited in the study, 26 were excluded, thus, 77 Middle Eastern English-speaking adults [mean age = 23.77 +/- 4.295 ; 39 males, 38 females] with normal speech and no hearing problems participated in the study
Interventions: Using Nasometer II 6450, nasalance scores were obtained for each participant's readings of 3 passages: Zoo and Rainbow passages and nasal sentences
Main outcome measures : Mean nasalance score, standard deviation and range
Results : Mean nasalance scores for Zoo passage, Rainbow passage and nasal sentences were 25.21 +/- 11.07, 34.04 +/- 9.30 and 41.29 +/- 9.87 respectively. Mean scores didn't differ significantly between males and females, though scores for the Zoo passage were slightly higher among males [26.51 +/- 11.66] than females [23.87 +/- 10.42]. In within-session reliability testing, 86% of retests for all three passages fell within 5 nasalance points of the previous test. In across-session reliability testing, 93% of retests for all 3 passages were within 5 points of initial test
Conclusions and Relevance: This study provides normative data for nasalance scores among Middle-Eastern adults, which can help make nasometer and determination of nasalance more clinically useful in this population
ABSTRACT
Objective : To report the formant characteristics of English-speaking Lebanese men during steady prolongation of vowels /a/ and /i/
Design : Cross-sectional study involving volunteer participants
Participants : Fifty healthy English-speaking males with a mean age of 32 +/- 4.027 years and a range of 42 years [18-60]
Materials and Methods : A total of 50 healthy males between the age of 18 and 60 were recruited for the study. Each subject was asked to phonate a sustained /a/ and /i/ sound at a comfortable pitch and intensity level. Measures were made in real-time and formant frequencies across F1, F2, F3 and F4 were determined using the Real-time Spectrogram VP 3950 [Kay Elemetrics, New Jersey]
Main outcome measures : The formant frequencies across F1, F2, F3 and F4 were recorded
Results: For the vowel /a/, the mean values of F1, F2, F3 and F4 were 622.86 +/- 61.293 Hz, 1264 +/- 78.602 Hz, 2610.90 +/- 206.359Hz and 3483.56 +/- 206.833 Hz, respectively. For the vowel /i/, the corresponding values were 378.88 +/- 51.825 Hz, 2210.34 +/- 124.077 Hz, 2847 +/- 168.770 Hz and 3576.82 +/- 242.760 Hz, respectively
Conclusion: Formant characteristics vary among cultures and ethnic groups