Velopharyngeal incompetence manifested initially in playing a musical instrument

Abstract

Summary A 12-year-old boy had played the French horn successfully for more than 16 months. With no warning or precipitating event, he began to lose oral air pressure after about a half hour of playing. A year later, we began assessing the velopharyngeal dysfunction. Videotape, fluorography, electromyography, oral manometry, and neurologic and speech evaluation techniques were employed. A pharyngeal flap procedure was performed a year and a half later. No symptom related to voice quality or playing the French horn has reemerged in the past 6 years.