NASALANCE LEVELS IN THE SPEECH OF NORMAL AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN

Objective: Nasalance scores have been shown to depend on the regional dialect of English spoken, Australian cleft palate clinics are increas ingly making use of the Nasometer as part of their evaluation of velop haryngeal inadequacy. There are, however, no normative data for Austra lian English available as reference information, The objective of this study, therefore, was to obtain comprehensive nasalance data for a la rge group of Australian children, aged 4 to 9 years, for two standard nasalance passages (Zoo Passage and Nasal Sentences) and to investigat e any gender or age differences within that age range. Participants: T he participants were 245 children (123 female, 122 male) ranging in ag e from 4 years, 0 months, to 9 years, 3 months. The children were recr uited from a variety of schools and preschools across the Sydney metro politan region. The children all spoke Australian English, and their h earing, articulation skills, and speech resonance were within normal l imits. Method: Mean nasalance scores were obtained for two speech pass ages that are used as standards for Nasometer testing (Zoo Passage and Nasal Sentences). In addition, the nasalance data were analyzed for a ny gender and age dependence, using separate analyses of variance for each speech passage, Five consecutive age groups were used to examine age dependence (4-, 5-, 6-, 7-, and 8-year-old children). Results: A m ean score of 13.1 (SD, 5.9) was obtained for the Zoo Passage, and a me an of 59.6 (SD, 8.1) for the Nasal Sentences. The analysis of variance results indicated that, at a probability level of p < 0.01, there was no statistically significant age or gender dependence for either spee ch passage. Conclusion: These normative nasalance data for children wh o speak Australian English will provide important reference informatio n for clinicians who assess nasality disorders in cleft palate clinics in Australia.