Speech and breathing aerodynamics, oral somatosensoric sensibility, and strength of tongue muscles correlated with articulation of the Finnish /r/-sound in subjects with and without oral clefts

To study the correlation between articulation of the Finnish /r/-sound and speech physiology in terms of speech and breathing aerodynamics, somatosens oric sensibility, and strength of the tongue muscles, we examined 20 adoles cence treated cleft patients (13 females, seven males) and 20 noncleft adul t controls. Three speech experts analysed the /r/-sound auditorily. Males h ad significantly more /r/-distortions than females. Laryngeal dysfunction i n terms of too low laryngeal resistance turned out to be the main explainer of the /r/-distortions. The occurrence of the /r/-distortions was also sig nificantly associated with the severity of the cleft. Neither velopharyngea l orifice size, the size of the smallest nasal crosssectional area or nasal resistance, nor the sensitivity of the alveolus or tongue or the strength of tongue muscles were significantly related to the /r/-distortions. Med Sc i Res 26:813-815. (C) 1998 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.