Voice Quality in Adults Treated for Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate: Long-Term Follow-Up After One- or Two-Stage Palate Repair.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the current study was to assess voice quality among adults treated for unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP), after one- or two-stage palate closure, and compare it to a noncleft control group. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study of patients with UCLP with long-term follow-up and noncleft controls. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with UCLP born between 1960 and 1987, treated at Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden, were examined (n = 73) at a mean of 35 years after primary surgery. Forty-seven (64%) patients had been treated with 1-stage palate closure and 26 with 2-stage closure (36%). The noncleft control group consisted of 63 age-matched volunteers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Ratings of perceptual voice characteristics from blinded voice recordings with Swedish Voice Evaluation Approach method. Acoustic voice analysis including pitch and spectral measures. RESULTS: Among the patients, the mean values for the 12 evaluated variables on a visual analog scale (0 = no abnormality, 100 = maximal abnormality) ranged between 0.1 and 17, and the mean for all was 6 mm. Voice variables were similar between patients and controls, except the total mean of all the perceptual voice variables, as well as "vocal fry"; both slightly lower among patients ( P = .018 and P = .009). There was no difference in any variable between patients treated with 1-stage and 2-stage palate closure. No clear relationship was found between velopharyngeal insufficiency and dysphonia. CONCLUSIONS: The voice characteristics among adults treated for UCLP in childhood are not different from those of individuals without cleft.

Voice Quality in Adults Treated for Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate: Long-term Follow-up After 1- or 2-Stage Palate Repair.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the current study was to assess voice quality among adults treated for unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP), after 1- or 2-stage palate closure, and compare it to a noncleft control group. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study in UCLP patients with long-term follow-up and noncleft controls. PARTICIPANTS: UCLP patients born 1960-1987, treated at Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden, were examined (n = 73) at a mean of 35 years after primary surgery. Forty-seven patients (64%) had been treated with 1-stage palate closure and 26 with 2-stage closure (36%). The noncleft control group consisted of 63 age-matched volunteers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Ratings of perceptual voice characteristics from blinded voice recordings with Swedish Voice Evaluation Approach (SVEA) method. Acoustic voice analysis including pitch and spectral measures. RESULTS: Among the patients, the mean values for the 12 evaluated variables on a VAS scale (0 = no abnormality, 100 = maximal abnormality) ranged between 1 and 22 and the mean for all was 6 mm. Voice variables were similar between patients and controls except the total mean of all the perceptual voice variables, as well as "vocal fry"-both slightly lower among patients ( P = .018 and P = .009). There was no difference in any variable between patients treated with 1-stage and 2-stage palate closure. No clear relationship was found between VPI and dysphonia. CONCLUSION: The voice characteristics among adults treated for UCLP in childhood are not different from those of individuals without cleft.

Speech in Adults Treated for Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate: Long-Term Follow-Up After One- or Two-Stage Palate Repair.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate speech in adults treated for unilateral cleft lip and palate with one-stage or two-stage palate closure and compare the speech of the patients with that of a noncleft control group. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study with long-term follow-up. PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: All unilateral cleft lip and palate patients born from 1960 to 1987 and treated at Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden, were invited (n = 109). Participation rate was 67% (n = 73) at a mean of 35 years after primary surgery. Forty-seven had been treated according to one-stage palate closure and 26 according to two-stage palate closure. Pharyngeal flap surgery had been performed in 11 of the 73 patients (15%). The noncleft control group consisted of 63 age-matched volunteers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Speech-language pathologists rated perceptual speech characteristics from blinded audio recordings. RESULTS: Among patients, seven (10%) presented with hypernasality, 12 (16%) had audible nasal emission and/or nasal turbulence, five (7%) had consonant production errors, one (2%) had glottal reinforcements/substitutions, and one (2%) had reduced intelligibility. Controls had no audible signs of velopharyngeal insufficiency and no quantifiable problems with the other speech production variables. No significant differences were identified between patients treated with one-stage and two-stage palate closure for any of the variables. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of speech outcome indicative of velopharyngeal insufficiency among adult patients treated for unilateral cleft lip and palate was low but higher compared with individuals without cleft. Whether palatal closure is performed in one or two stages does not seem to affect the speech outcome at a mean age of 35 years.

Comparison between two assessment methods for exercise-induced laryngeal obstructions.

Exercise-induced laryngeal obstructions (E-ILOs) are important differential diagnoses to exercise-induced asthma and are diagnosed by the continuous laryngoscopy exercise (CLE) test. There are two different methods for evaluating the severity of E-ILOs using recordings from the CLE test; the CLE score and EILOMEA. The aim of this study was to investigate the consistency between these methods. Using their respective method, the developers of each method evaluated 60 laryngoscopic recordings from patients with different subtypes and various levels of severity of E-ILOs. The CLE score evaluates glottic and supraglottic obstructions on a 4-grade scale. EILOMEA uses software to calculate the obstruction severity on continuous scales from a still frame of the larynx during maximal obstruction giving three parameters reflecting glottic and supraglottic obstruction. The means of the EILOMEA measures differed significantly for CLE score 1 vs. 2 and 2 vs. 3, but not for 0 vs. 1 for glottic as well as supraglottic obstructions. The EILOMEA method does not distinguish between CLE score 0 and 1, but otherwise the methods correlate. Since previous studies have suggested that only CLE scores of 2 and 3 reflect a severity of E-ILOs of clinical importance, this lack of the EILOMEA method is not crucial for a correct medical evaluation.

Speech in adults treated for unilateral cleft lip and palate as rated by naïve listeners, speech-language pathologists, and patients.

Speech may be affected in patients with cleft lip and palate (CLP). Professional listeners, naïve listeners, and patients may perceive speech differently. The aim of the study was to assess speech among adults treated for unilateral CLP (UCLP) as rated by naïve listeners, speech-language pathologists (SLPs), and self-assessment and to evaluate how well these ratings correlate. All patients with complete UCLP treated at the Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden, in 1960-1987 were invited. A total of 73 of 109 patients (67%) participated, with a mean of 35 years since the initiation of treatment. The noncleft control group consisted of 55 volunteers. All participants answered questionnaires for self-rating of speech, and their speech was audio-recorded digitally. Fourteen naïve listeners and four SLPs rated the speech individually from blinded recordings. There were more speech abnormalities among patients compared to controls according to the ratings of naïve listeners and SLPs. In controls and patients, there were positive correlations between the speech ratings by naïve listeners and SLPs r = 0.44 to 0.71, p < 0.001, Spearman). The patients were less satisfied and rated to have more speech abnormalities than controls (p < 0.001). Although adults treated for UCLP considered their speech as fairly good, they were less satisfied than noncleft controls. The agreement between ratings by naïve listeners and SLPs were good, while the agreement between these ratings and self-assessment varied widely. When assessing speech in adults treated for UCLP, differences in perception of speech abnormalities by professionals, laymen, and patients should be considered.

EDITOR'S CHOICE: objective assessment of the nasal airway in unilateral cleft lip and palate--a long-term study.

OBJECTIVE: To objectively evaluate the nasal function in adults operated on for unilateral cleft lip and palate with one-stage or two-stage palate closure. DESIGN: The population consists of all unilateral cleft lip and palate patients born from 1960 to 1987 and treated at the Cleft Lip and Palate Center, Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden. The patients were treated according to the same protocol except for palate closure, which was performed in one stage until 1977 and in two stages thereafter. Eighty-three patients participated. Mean follow-up time after primary surgery was 32 years. An age-matched control group underwent the same examinations. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Nasal minimum cross-sectional area (cm(2)) and volume (cm(3)) were assessed (acoustic rhinometry). Airflow resistance (Pa s/cm(3)) (rhinomanometry), peak inspiratory flow (L/min) (peak nasal inspiratory flow), and number of identified odors (Scandinavian Odor Identification Test) were determined. RESULTS: The cleft side of unilateral cleft lip and palate patients had significantly lower values for all parameters compared with controls (p < .001). No difference was found between one-stage and two-stage procedures in values for the cleft side. However, the nasal area and volume of the noncleft side were significantly larger in patients who underwent one-stage as compared with two-stage procedures (p < .05). CONCLUSION: The nasal airway of unilateral cleft lip and palate patients demonstrates a wide range of impairments that can be quantified by objective measurements. However, the measurements used did not differentiate between patients operated on with the one-stage and two-stage procedures except for values of the noncleft side.

Nasal symptoms and clinical findings in adult patients treated for unilateral cleft lip and palate.

The aim of the study was to investigate self-experienced nasal symptoms among adults treated for UCLP and the association to clinical findings, and to evaluate whether palate closure in one-stage or two-stages affected the symptoms or clinical findings. All people with UCLP born between 1960-1987, treated at Uppsala University Hospital, were considered for participation in this cross-sectional population study with long-term follow-up. Eighty-three patients (76% participation rate) participated, a mean of 37 years after the first operation. Fifty-two patients were treated with one-stage palate closure and 31 with two-stage palate closure. An age-matched group of 67 non-cleft controls completed the same study protocol, which included a questionnaire regarding nasal symptoms, nasal inspection, anterior rhinoscopy, and nasal endoscopy. Patients reported a higher frequency of nasal symptoms compared with the control group, e.g., nasal obstruction (81% compared with 60%) and mouth breathing (20% compared with 5%). Patients also rated their nasal symptoms as having a more negative impact on their daily life and physical activities than controls. Nasal examination revealed higher frequencies of nasal deformities among patients. No positive correlation was found between nasal symptoms and severity of findings at nasal examination. No differences were identified between patients treated with one-stage and two-stage palate closure regarding symptoms or nasal findings. Adult patients treated for UCLP suffer from more nasal symptoms than controls. However, symptoms are not associated with findings at clinical nasal examination or method of palate closure.