An acoustic-speech study of patients who received orthognathic surgery

Abstract

Several reports have suggested that orthognathic surgery may influence speech patterns. The purpose of this study was to examine the formant frequency changes of speech following orthognathic surgery in patients whose speech was considered perceptually normal preoperatively and postoperatively. Speech samples were obtained from five patients (three patients with Class II, Division 1 malocclusions and two patients with Class III malocclusions). Significant second-formant frequency shifts were found for the vowel ‘e’ (as in ‘seat’); however, only minor second-formant frequency variations were found for the vowels ‘a’ (as in ‘sat’) and ‘u’ (as in ‘suit’). The pattern of formant frequencies before and after surgical treatment suggested that the speakers adjusted their articulation to accommodate the orthognathic surgery. Overall, the data from this study indicate that speech patterns may be reorganized after orthognathic surgery even though speech remains perceptually “normal.”