OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of speech training on velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) in patients with cleft palate.

METHODSClassify 30 non-syndrome cleft palate patients into Group VPI who was performed levator veli palatini reconstruction surgery at Department of Cleft and Palate Surgery, West China College of Stomatology, Sichuan University and who was performed speech training for 3-6 months after surgery. These patients were diagnosed as mild VPI by speech estimation and demonstrated a velopharyngeal distance between 1 and 5 mm through photography of pharyngeal cavity. VS-99 audio frequency analyzing system was applied to measure the second (F2) and third formant (F3) frequency of vowel [i] of 30 VPI patients before and after speech training, obtained data was compared with those of 30 normal people (Group C).

RESULTSThe formant frequency of Group VPI before speech training was F2 (1 958.95 +/- 431.40) Hz and F3 (3 059.84 +/- 330.09) Hz. The formant frequency of Group VPI after speech training was F2 (2 322.95 +/- 213.02) Hz and F3 (3 293.84 +/- 215.08) Hz. The formant frequency of Group C was F2 (2 430.47 +/- 223.05) Hz and F3 (3 345.97 +/- 180.83) Hz. The comparison of F2 and F3 between Group C and Group VPI before speech training showed significant difference (P < 0.05). The comparison of F2 and F3 between Group C and Group VPI after speech training showed no significant difference (P > 0.05). The comparison of F2 and F3 before and after the speech training in Group VPI showed significant difference (P < 0.05), in which data was higher after speech training.

CONCLUSIONSpeech training is first recommended for those patients who received the cleft palate surgery at an elder age. It can improve the velopharyngeal insufficiency significantly, which may eventually keep the patients away from a second surgery.