Nasal airflow and oral pressure during speech in Spanish speakers.

Abstract

Perceptual and acoustic measures have indicated that the velopharyngeal mechanism may not be completely closed during oral speech sounds in native speakers of Spanish (SP); however, there is no direct evidence that this is the case. This lack of evidence makes it difficult for clinicians to differentiate a spoken language difference from a disorder, velopharyngeal inadequacy (VPI). Using aeromechanical measurements, this study determined if the velopharyngeal (VP) mechanism was closed during oral-only speech production in SP speakers. These measurements were obtained from seven native English (AE) speakers (control) and seven native SP speakers. Results revealed no statistically significant differences between groups for all aeromechanical measurements. However, a trend was observed that the SP group spoke at a faster rate (syllables per second); and the implications of this observation in relation to nasality is discussed.