The Immediate Effect of Straw Phonation in Children With Repaired Cleft Palate

Abstract

ObjectiveThis study aims to investigate the immediate effect of straw phonation on the phonation of Persian-speaking children with repaired cleft palate. Study DesignQuasi-experimental intervention pre and post intervention. MethodsSeventeen children with repaired cleft palate and velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD) were investigated. A control group was established comprising children without a cleft palate (control group), carefully matched in terms of age and gender. All participants underwent straw phonation and assessment. The assessments were made two times: at baseline and immediately after straw phonation. Each participant performs straw phonation (a short straw measuring 3mm in inner diameter and 20 cm in length) once for 3 minutes. The acoustic analysis including parameters such as jitter, shimmer, harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR), cepstral peak prominence (CPP) parameters, as well as the electroglottography (CQ) analysis were performed at pretreatment and immediately after treatment. ResultsCompared with the pretreatment values, after treatment observation demonstrated a significant reduction in Jitt % and Shimm %, and a significant enhancement in HNR and CPP among children with repaired cleft palate. No significant difference intragroup data just in the CPP and CQ in pretreatment. ConclusionsThe proposed straw phonation technique results in an immediate positive change on the quality of voice in both groups. Moreover, assessments in clinical group showed a significantly decrease shimmer and jitter perturbation, alongside elevated levels of HNR and CPP subsequent to straw phonation, irrespective of the phonatory task.