Phonological Characteristics and Rehabilitation of Abnormal Velar Consonants in Operated Patients with Cleft Palate / 听力学及言语疾病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the phonological characteristics and rehabilitation methods of abnormal velar consonants in operated patients with cleft palate.Methods A total of 110 patients (60 males and 50 females, aged 4 to 27 years with the mean age as 9.01±4.12) with abnormal velar consonants after cleft palate treatment over one month were involved in this study.According to the severity of articulation disorders, the patients were divided into mild, moderate and severe groups who received 1 to 5 weeks of targeted rehabilitation training.The phonological characteristics of abnormal velar consonants and the correction between velar consonant misarticulation and age/gender were analyzed.Results The error rate of /g/ was 96.36%(106/110) which was the highest, then /k/ and /h/ was 74.55%(82/110) and 19.09%(21/110), respectively.Both /g/(80.19%, 85/106) and /h/(76.19%, 16/21) mainly showed omission while /k/ was mainly substituted by /h/(54.88%, 45/82) and /t/(29.27%, 24/82).95 cases were cured and 12 cases improved after specific rehabilitation.The overall cure rate was 86.36%.The cure rates for the mild, moderate and severe groups were 96.00%(24/25), 90.91%(30/33), and 78.85%(41/52),respectively.Males accounted for 51.76%(44/85) and females for 48.24%(41/85) among omission cases;males accounted for 51.47%(35/68) and females for 48.53%(33/68) among substitution cases.There was no significant correction among the number of incorrect words and age(r=-0.140, P>0.05) as well as gender(r=0.090, P>0.1).Conclusion Abnormal velar consonants in operated patients with cleft palate mainly had problems with /g/ and /k/./g/ showed mainly omission errors and /k/ mainly substitution.The targeted rehabilitation methods established in the study are significantly beneficial.