PRELIMINARY-STUDY OF ARTICULATORY REORGANIZATION OF FRICATIVE CONSONANTS FOLLOWING OSTEOTOMY

Patients who undergo osteotomy experience a radical change in the skel etal relationship between the mandible and maxilla and as yet little i s known about how this affects speech articulation. This study investi gated the extent to which articulatory placement for the lingual conso nant lsi changed following surgery. Using the technique of electropala tography and acoustic analysis, patients' productions of fricative sou nds were recorded before and after osteotomy. Five patients were inves tigated, 3 with mandibular prognathism and 2 with maxillary protrusion . Results showed that there were significant changes in articulatory p lacement after the operation, and that these were correlated with an a coustic measure (CPF). The direction of change could be predicted on t he basis of the type of operation undergone, and these changes were ma intained 6 months post-operatively. The implications of the findings a re discussed.