Cleft Summit 2022: The Impact of a Unified Voice.

OBJECTIVE: The inaugural Cleft Summit aimed to unite experts and foster interdisciplinary collaboration, seeking a collective understanding of velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) management. DESIGN: An interactive debate and conversation between a multidisciplinary cleft care team on VPI management. SETTING: A two-hour discussion within a four-day comprehensive cleft care workshop (CCCW). PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-two global leaders from various cleft disciplines. INTERVENTIONS: Cleft Summit that allows for meaningful interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge exchange. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Ability to reach consensus on a unified statement for VPI management. RESULTS: Participants agreed that a patient with significant VPI and a dynamic velum should first receive a surgery that lengthens the velum to optimize patient outcome. A global, multicenter prospective study should be done to test this hypothesis. CONCLUSION: The 1st Cleft Summit successfully distilled global expertise into actionable best-practice guidelines through iterative discussions, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and paving the way for a transformative multi-center prospective study on VPI care.

The First Hybrid International Educational Comprehensive Cleft Care Workshop.

OBJECTIVE: Describe the first hybrid global simulation-based comprehensive cleft care workshop, evaluate impact on participants, and compare experiences based on in-person versus virtual attendance. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey-based evaluation. SETTING: International comprehensive cleft care workshop. PARTICIPANTS: Total of 489 participants. INTERVENTIONS: Three-day simulation-based hybrid comprehensive cleft care workshop. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Participant demographic data, perceived barriers and interventions needed for global comprehensive cleft care delivery, participant workshop satisfaction, and perceived short-term impact on practice stratified by in-person versus virtual attendance. RESULTS: The workshop included 489 participants from 5 continents. The response rate was 39.9%. Participants perceived financial factors (30.3%) the most significant barrier and improvement in training (39.8%) as the most important intervention to overcome barriers facing cleft care delivery in low to middle-income countries. All participants reported a high level of satisfaction with the workshop and a strong positive perceived short-term impact on their practice. Importantly, while this was true for both in-person and virtual attendees, in-person attendees reported a significantly higher satisfaction with the workshop (28.63 ± 3.08 vs 27.63 ± 3.93; P = .04) and perceived impact on their clinical practice (22.37 ± 3.42 vs 21.02 ± 3.45 P = .01). CONCLUSION: Hybrid simulation-based educational comprehensive cleft care workshops are overall well received by participants and have a positive perceived impact on their clinical practices. In-person attendance is associated with significantly higher satisfaction and perceived impact on practice. Considering that financial and health constraints may limit live meeting attendance, future efforts will focus on making in-person and virtual attendance more comparable.

Ankyloglossia: Typical Characteristics, Effects on Function, and Clinical Implications.

The purpose of this article is to (1) define the diagnostic characteristics of ankyloglossia, (2) identify potential problems associated with ankyloglossia, and (3) discuss treatment options, when treatment is appropriate. This article is based on a review of the literature, including recent systematic reviews, and the author's experience as a cleft and orofacial specialist. Ankyloglossia is a common congenital condition characterized by an anterior attachment of the lingual frenulum on the tongue. This causes difficulty elevating and/or protruding the tongue tip. As such, ankyloglossia has been thought to affect neonatal feeding, speech, and other functions. Although systematic reviews have concluded that most infants with ankyloglossia can be fed normally, a small percentage of affected infants will show improved efficiency of feeding post-frenotomy. They also concluded that frenotomy may relieve nipple pain in the breastfeeding mothers of affected infants. Regarding speech, the systematic reviews concluded that there is no evidence that ankyloglossia causes speech disorders. This may be because simple compensations will result in normal acoustics of the sounds. Therefore, frenotomy should be recommended sparingly for newborn infants, and it should rarely, if ever, be recommended for speech disorders.

Nasalance Scores for Normal Speakers of American English Obtained by the Nasometer II Using the MacKay-Kummer SNAP-R Test.

OBJECTIVE: To establish nasalance score norms for adolescent and young adult native speakers of American English and also determine age-group and gender differences using the Simplified Nasometric Assessment Procedures (SNAP) Test-R and Nasometer II. DESIGN: Prospective study using a randomly selected sample of participants. SETTING: Greater Cincinnati area and Miami University of Ohio. PARTICIPANTS: Participants had a history of normal speech and language development and no history of speech therapy. Participants in the adolescent group were recruited from schools in West Clermont and Hamilton County, whereas the young adults were recruited from Miami University of Ohio. The participants of both groups were residents of Cincinnati, Ohio or Oxford, Ohio and spoke midland American English dialect. OUTCOME MEASURES: Mean nasalance scores for the SNAP Test-R. RESULTS: Normative nasalance scores were obtained for the Syllable Repetition/Prolonged Sounds, Picture-Cued, and Paragraph subtests. Results showed statistically significant nasalance score differences between adolescents and young adults in the Syllable Repetition, Picture-Cued, and Paragraph subtests, and between males and females in the Syllable Repetition and the Sound-Prolonged subtests. A significant univariate effect was found for the syllables and sentences containing nasal consonants and high vowels compared to syllables and sentences containing oral consonants and low vowels. Across all the SNAP Test-R subtests, the females' nasalance scores were higher than the males. A significant univariate effect was also found across nasal syllables, and high vowels such that the females' nasalance scores were higher than the males. Tables of normative data are provided that may be useful for clinical purposes. CONCLUSION: Norms obtained demonstrated nasalance score differences according to age and gender, particularly in the Syllable Repetition/Prolonged Sound subtest. These differences were discussed in light of potential reasons for their existence and implications for understanding velopharyngeal function. In addition, nasalance scores are affected by the vowel type and place of articulation of the consonant. These facts should be considered when nasometry is used clinically and for research purposes.

Assessment of Intelligibility in Children with Velopharyngeal Insufficiency: The Relationship between Intelligibility in Context Scale and Experimental Measures.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical application of the Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS) instrument in children with velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI). This study investigated the relationship between clinical speech outcomes and parental reports of speech intelligibility across various communicative partners. METHODS: The ICS was completed by the parents of 20 English-speaking children aged 4-12 years diagnosed with VPI. The parents were asked to rate their children's speech intelligibility across communication partners using a 5-point scale. Clinical metrics obtained using standard clinical transcription on the Picture-Cued SNAP-R Test were: (1) percentage of consonants correct (PCC), (2) percentage of vowels correct (PVC), and (3) percentage of phonemes correct (PPC). Nasalance from nasometer data was included as an indirect measure of nasality. Intelligibility scores obtained from naive listener's transcriptions and speech-language pathologists' (SLP) ratings were compared with the ICS results. RESULT: Greater PCC, PPC, PVC, and transcription-based intelligibility values were significantly associated with higher ICS values, respectively (r[20] = 0.84, 0.82, 0.51, and 0.70, respectively; p < 0.05 in all cases). There was a negative and significant correlation between ICS mean scores and SLP ratings of intelligibility (r = -0.74; p < 0.001). There was no significant correlation between ICS values and nasalance scores (r[20] = -0.28; p = 0.22). CONCLUSION: The high correlations obtained between the ICS with PCC and PPC measures indicate that articulation accuracy has had a great impact on parents' decision-making regarding intelligibility in this population. Significant agreement among ICS scores with naive listener transcriptions and clinical ratings supports use of the ICS in practice.

Optimal Outcomes Reporting (OOR): A New Value-Based Metric for Outcome Reporting Following Cleft Palate Repair.

OBJECTIVE: Palatoplasty outcome measurements vary widely among institutions. A standardized outcome metric would help provide quality benchmarks. DESIGN: Retrospective review of primary palatoplasty patients from 2007 to 2013. SETTING: Tertiary care children's hospital. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We created a novel conceptual quality metric called "OOR" (Optimal Outcome Reporting). Optimal Outcome Reporting is designed to reflect the percentage of patients with cleft palate who experience the best outcomes: one operation, velar competence by age 5 years, and no unintended palatal fistula. RESULTS: Optimal Outcome Reporting was 72.3% (68/94). Eight patients had "suboptimal" outcomes for having undergone more than one operation. Eighteen patients failed for velar incompetence. No additional patients fell out of the algorithm for fistula. A significantly higher proportion of nonsyndromic patients demonstrated an "optimal" result compared to syndromic patients (61/80, 76.3% vs 7/14, 50.0%; P = .04). Patients who required more than one procedure had significantly more clinic visits (32.6 vs 14.9; P < .01) and accrued higher costs compared to "optimal" patients (US$34 019.88 vs US$15 357.25; P < .01). CONCLUSIONS: Optimal Outcome Reporting represents a novel quality metric that can provide meaningful information for patients with cleft palate. Optimal Outcome Reporting utilization can help cleft centers adopt changes that matter to patients and their families. By allowing for cross-institutional comparisons in a clear and objective manner, OOR can promote competition, innovation, and value in cleft palate care.

Understanding Nasal Emission During Speech Production: A Review of Types, Terminology, and Causality.

There are several different types of nasal emission that can occur during speech due to either velopharyngeal dysfunction or abnormal articulation in the pharynx. Nasal emission can be inaudible or very loud and distracting, depending on the size of the velopharyngeal opening and the physics of the flow. Nasal emission can be obligatory and/or compensatory (due to abnormal structure) or it can be caused by a misarticulation that results in a substitution of a pharyngeal sound for an oral sound, despite normal velopharyngeal structure. Nasal emission can occur on all pressure-sensitive phonemes or it can be phoneme-specific. Although it is generally recognized that the loud and distracting form of nasal emission (called nasal turbulence or nasal rustle) is due to a small velopharyngeal opening, the causality of the distracted sound is debated. This article provides a brief review of the types of nasal emission, the terms used to describe it, and the potential causes. This article also stresses the need for further research to clarify the causality of the sound generated by a small velopharyngeal opening.

Using High-Speed Nasopharyngoscopy to Quantify the Bubbling Above the Velopharyngeal Valve in Cases of Nasal Rustle.

OBJECTIVE: The loud and severely distorting form of audible nasal emission (commonly known as nasal turbulence or nasal rustle) typically occurs with a small velopharyngeal opening during production of pressure-sensitive consonants. The purpose of this study was to determine whether bubbling of the secretions, which commonly occurs on the superior aspect of the velopharyngeal port when there is a small opening, is a periodic process that can generate sound in the nasal cavity. PARTICIPANTS: Ten pediatric patients were included in the study. All participants had normal articulation and resonance but exhibited audible nasal emission characterized as nasal rustle. MEASURES: For each participant, high-speed video (HSV) nasopharyngoscopy and acoustic signals were recorded simultaneously. The acoustic recordings were captured in a manner similar to nasometry using nasal and oral microphones connected to a separation plate. Spectral analysis of the audio recordings and the HSV images was used to determine correlation between the acoustic and visual measurements. RESULTS: This study showed that secretion bubbling is a periodic process and its frequency, measured from the HSV data, was also captured by the acoustic measurements. The nasal acoustic signal correlated more strongly with the video of bubbling than the oral acoustic signal in the majority of the cases where bubbling occurred. CONCLUSION: These findings are strong evidence that secretion bubbling plays a significant role in the mechanism that generates undesired sound in the nasal cavity. Further work is needed to determine whether this sound is perceived as nasal rustle.

Simulation-Based Comprehensive Cleft Care Workshops: A Reproducible Model for Sustainable Education.

OBJECTIVE: Evaluate simulation-based comprehensive cleft care workshops as a reproducible model for education with sustained impact. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey-based evaluation. SETTING: Simulation-based comprehensive cleft care workshop. PARTICIPANTS: Total of 180 participants. INTERVENTIONS: Three-day simulation-based comprehensive cleft care workshop. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of workshop participants stratified by specialty, satisfaction with the workshop, satisfaction with simulation-based workshops as educational tools, impact on cleft surgery procedural confidence, short-term impact on clinical practice, medium-term impact on clinical practice. RESULTS: The workshop included 180 participants from 5 continents. The response rate was 54.5%, with participants reporting high satisfaction with all aspects of the workshop and with simulation-based workshops as educational tools. Participants reported a significant improvement in cleft lip (33.3 ± 5.7 vs 25.7 ± 7.6; P < .001) and palate (32.4 ± 7.1 vs 23.7 ± 6.6; P < .001) surgery procedural confidence following the simulation sessions. Participants also reported a positive short-term and medium-term impact on their clinical practices. CONCLUSION: Simulation-based comprehensive cleft care workshops are well received by participants, lead to improved cleft surgery procedural confidence, and have a sustained positive impact on participants' clinical practices. Future efforts should focus on evaluating and quantifying this perceived positive impact, as well reproducing these efforts in other areas of need.

Sustainable Cleft Care Through Education: The First Simulation-Based Comprehensive Workshop in the Middle East and North Africa Region.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the conduct of the first multidisciplinary simulation-based workshop in the Middle East/North Africa region and evaluate participant satisfaction. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey-based evaluation. SETTING: Educational comprehensive multidisciplinary simulation-based cleft care workshop. PARTICIPANTS: Total of 93 workshop participants from over 20 countries. INTERVENTIONS: Three-day educational comprehensive multidisciplinary simulation-based cleft care workshop. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of workshop participants, number of participants stratified by specialty, satisfaction with workshop, number of workshop staff, and number of workshop staff stratified by specialty. RESULTS: The workshop included 93 participants from over 20 countries. The response rate was 47.3%, and participants reported high satisfaction with all aspects of the workshop. All participants reported they would recommend it to colleagues (100.0%) and participate again (100.0%). No significant difference was detected based on participant specialty or years of experience. The majority were unaware of other cleft practitioners in their countries (68.2%). CONCLUSION: Multidisciplinary simulation-based cleft care workshops are well received by cleft practitioners in developing countries, serve as a platform for intellectual exchange, and are only possible through strong collaborations. Advocates of international cleft surgery education should translate these successes from the regional to the global arena in order to contribute to sustainable cleft care through education.

Placement of an antibiotic oral pack on the hard palate after primary cleft palatoplasty: a randomized controlled trial into the effect on fistula rates.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to determine whether placement of an antibiotic oral pack on the hard palate reduces fistula rates after primary cleft palatoplasty. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This study was a parallel blocked randomized controlled trial. The study consisted of two groups of 100 patients each with non-syndromic unilateral complete cleft lip, alveolus, and hard and soft palate that underwent primary palatoplasty. Group A had an oral pack placed on the hard palate for 5 days postoperatively while group B did not. Occurrence of fistulae between both groups was tested using odds ratios (OR). RESULTS: In 2% of the patients in group A, a fistula was found 6 months after palatal surgery. In contrast, in 21% of the patients in group B, a palatal fistula could be confirmed. The fistula occurrence in group A was statistically significantly lower than that in group B (OR = 0.0768, CI = [0.02 … 0.34], p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The findings of this study provide evidence that the rate of fistula formation after primary palatoplasty is significantly reduced if a pack soaked with antibiotic cream is placed on the palate postoperatively for 5 days. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The use of an antibiotic pack after cleft palate repair can be recommended to prevent occurrence of oronasal fistulae.

Current practice in assessing and reporting speech outcomes of cleft palate and velopharyngeal surgery: a survey of cleft palate/craniofacial professionals.

OBJECTIVE: To determine methods by which professionals serving cleft palate/craniofacial teams are evaluating velopharyngeal function and to ascertain what they consider as a successful speech outcome of surgery. DESIGN: A 12-question survey was developed for professionals involved in management of velopharyngeal dysfunction. PARTICIPANTS: The survey was distributed through E-mail lists for the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association and Division 5 of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Only speech-language pathologists and surgeons were asked to complete the survey. A total of 126 questionnaires were completed online. RESULTS: Standard speech evaluations include perceptual evaluation (99.2%), intraoral examination (96.8%), nasopharyngoscopy (59.3%), nasometry (28.9%), videofluoroscopy (19.2%), and aerodynamic measures (4.3%). Significant variation existed in the types and levels of perceptual rating scales. Pharyngeal flap (52.9%) is the most commonly performed procedure for velopharyngeal insufficiency, followed by sphincter pharyngoplasty (27.5%). Criteria for surgical success included normal speech (50.8%), acceptable speech (27.9%), and "improved" speech (8%). However, most respondents felt that success should be defined as normal speech (71.2%). Most respondents believed that surgical success should be determined by the team speech-language pathologist (81.5%); although, some felt success should be determined by the patient/family (17.7%). CONCLUSION: This survey shows considerable variability in the methods for evaluating and reporting speech outcomes following surgery. There is inconsistency in what is considered a successful surgical outcome, making comparison studies impossible. Most respondents thought that success should be defined as normal speech, but this is not happening in current practice.

Secretion Bubbling as the Sound Mechanism for Nasal Rustle: A Perceptual Study.

PURPOSE: Secretion bubbling on the superior aspect of the velopharyngeal (VP) valve typically occurs with a small VP opening during production of oral pressure consonants. The use of high-speed nasopharyngoscopy has shown correlation between the bubbling frequency and the acoustics captured with the nasal microphone of the nasometer. The purpose of this study was to investigate if the sound generated by the bubbling process is perceived as nasal rustle (also known as nasal turbulence). METHOD: Speech samples were extracted from the data of patients who were diagnosed with nasal rustle (five boys and five girls, ranging in age from 5 to 10 years old). A customized filter was used to remove the sound generated by the secretion bubbling. Six experienced listeners were asked to rate the perception of nasal rustle in each speech stimuli before and after the filtering process. RESULTS: Rating values for the perception of nasal rustle were overall reduced in all cases after the filtering process. Furthermore, the perception of nasal rustle was eliminated in 40% of the cases. Rating reliability was excellent before the filtering process and moderate to good after filtering. CONCLUSION: Reducing the perception of nasal rustle using spectral filtering based on the bubbling frequencies supports the hypothesis that undesired sound in the nasal cavity is generated from the interaction of the turbulent airflow with the secretion bubbling. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.19111544.

Disorders of resonance and airflow secondary to cleft palate and/or velopharyngeal dysfunction.

The purpose of this article is to help the reader understand what contributes to normal resonance for speech production. In addition, the reader will learn about the types of resonance disorders and their characteristics. The causes of resonance disorders will be described with a guideline on how they should be treated. This article also includes a discussion of normal airflow for speech and the perceptual speech characteristics that often occur when there is abnormal nasal airflow. Secondary characteristics of nasal airflow, including weak or omitted consonants, short utterance length, nasal grimace, and compensatory articulation productions, are also described.

Types and causes of velopharyngeal dysfunction.

The velopharyngeal valve is responsible for production of oral speech sounds. There are three components to normal velopharyngeal function: anatomy, physiology, and learning. velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD) is a condition where the velopharyngeal valve does not close consistently and completely during the production of oral sounds. Velopharyngeal dysfunction can be caused by abnormal anatomy (velopharyngeal insufficiency), abnormal neurophysiology (velopharyngeal incompetence), or particular articulation errors (velopharyngeal mislearning). The purpose of this article is to acquaint the reader with what is required for normal velopharyngeal function. In addition, there will be a discussion of the types of velopharyngeal dysfunction and various causes of each. Implications for treatment and prognosis will be discussed.

Perceptual assessment of resonance and velopharyngeal function.

Cleft lip is an anomaly that primarily affects aesthetics, whereas cleft palate is an anomaly that primarily affects function, particularly speech. In fact, the main reason for repairing the palate is to provide adequate structure and function for normal speech production. Despite undergoing palatoplasty surgery, 20 to 30% of children with repaired cleft palate will demonstrate some degree of velopharyngeal dysfunction, resulting in abnormal speech. Velopharyngeal dysfunction is also seen in individuals without a history of cleft palate for various reasons. Because the symptoms of velopharyngeal dysfunction have a variety of causes, a comprehensive evaluation is very important to make the appropriate recommendations for treatment. The purpose of this article is to discuss the clinical assessment of velopharyngeal function for speech, using low-tech and "no-tech" procedures.

Speech therapy for errors secondary to cleft palate and velopharyngeal dysfunction.

Individuals with a history of cleft lip/palate or velopharyngeal dysfunction may demonstrate any combination of speech sound errors, hypernasality, and nasal emission. Speech sound distortion can also occur due to other structural anomalies, including malocclusion. Whenever there are structural anomalies, speech can be affected by obligatory distortions or compensatory errors. Obligatory distortions (including hypernasality due to velopharyngeal insufficiency) are caused by abnormal structure and not by abnormal function. Therefore, surgery or other forms of physical management are needed for correction. In contrast, speech therapy is indicated for compensatory articulation productions where articulation placement is changed in response to the abnormal structure. Speech therapy is much more effective if it is done after normalization of the structure. When speech therapy is appropriate, the techniques involve methods to change articulation placement using standard articulation therapy principles. Oral-motor exercises, including the use of blowing and sucking, are never indicated to improve velopharyngeal function. The purpose of this article is to provide information regarding when speech therapy is appropriate for individuals with a history of cleft palate or other structural anomalies and when physical management is needed. In addition, some specific therapy techniques are offered for the elimination of common compensatory articulation productions.

Ethics in the practice of speech-language pathology in health care settings.

ETHICS refers to a moral philosophy or a set of moral principles that determine appropriate behavior in a society. Medical ethics includes a set of specific values that are considered in determining appropriate conduct in the practice of medicine or health care. Because the practice of medicine and medical speech-language pathology affects the health, well-being, and quality of life of individuals served, adherence to a code of ethical conduct is critically important in the health care environment. When ethical dilemmas arise, consultation with a bioethics committee can be helpful in determining the best course of action. This article will help to define medical ethics and to discuss the six basic values that are commonly considered in discussions of medical ethics. Common ethical mistakes in the practice of speech-language pathology will be described. Finally, the value of a bioethics consultation for help in resolving complex ethical issues will be discussed.

Nasal rustle: The retrospective and prospective investigation of effects of bubbling of secretions on speech.

OBJECTIVE: "Nasal rustle" is a type of nasal emission associated with a small velopharyngeal (VP) gap and distracting loud noise. Currently, the mechanisms behind noise generation are unclear. In this study, we use a combination of retrospective and prospective data to test the hypotheses that bubbling of secretions could be a source of audible noise. DESIGN: Retrospective: Nasopharyngoscopy records of 151 patients with nasal rustle were reviewed to determine if bubbling occurred during their nasopharyngoscopy examination. Prospective: Nine children with nasal rustle and bubbling of secretions were suctioned with the scope in place to assure removal of secretions. The Nasometer II was used to record the children's production of oral sentences prior to and post suctioning. All sentences were analyzed for the presence or absence of noise, nasalance scores, and Cepstral Peak Prominence (CPP). Intra-and inter-judge reliability of coding was high. RESULTS: Retrospective: 70% of the patients with nasal rustle had bubbling of secretions during nasopharyngoscopy. Prospective: Percentages of audible noise were reduced significantly post suctioning (Friedman's Test, Chi-square = 24.5, p = 0.001) with the greatest decrease in syllables with fricatives and bilabial stops (p < 0.05). The average CPP and nasalance scores pre-vs post-suctioning showed no significant differences (p = 0.91, 0.29). CONCLUSIONS: Retrospective: The high percentage of patients with nasal rustle had bubbling of secretions when producing speech in nasopharyngoscopy evaluations. Prospective: The incidence of audible noise was reduced as a result of suctioning. This suggests that the presence of secretions contributes to the production of nasal rustle.

Nasometric evaluation of resonance disorders: A norm study In Turkish.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to adapt the Simplified Nasometric Assessment Procedures-Revised (SNAP-R) [1] to Turkish, gather norms from Turkish speakers, and test the sensitivity and specificity of the adapted test. Finally, this study was designed to determine if there are any differences in average nasalance scores due to age, gender, and vowel content of the passage. METHODS: 240 children without any known speech, language or hearing disorders and 40 children with cleft palate participated in the study. Participants were divided into three groups according to their age (ages 4-7; 8-12; and 13-18). Data for this descriptive study was collected in the school settings and in a center of speech and language therapy. RESULTS: This study showed a slight increase in nasalance with age, but no difference in nasalance based on gender. Furthermore, the nasalance score is determined by vowel content of the passage and that high vowels have higher nasalance than the low vowels. CONCLUSION: This paper offers a new test for nasometric evaluation in the Turkish language, which has relatively high specificity and sensitivity in the evaluation of hypernasality.