Short Term Phonatory Stability Analysis in the Voice of Children With Cleft Lip And Palate Medical science

Cleft lip and palate are birth defects. Children with cleft lip and palate may have problems with quality of voice. The present study compared the perturbation measures of voice (pre and post surgery) in children with cleft lip and palate. Each group included 15 children age ranged 3 to 12 years. They were asked to phonate vowels /a/, /i/, and /u/. Voice samples were recorded and analyzed by using PRAAT software. Results revealed significant difference in pre and post surgery voice in children with cleft lip and palate. This study also highlights the importance of speech therapy in children with cleft lip and palate. Introduction Cleft of lip and palate (CLP) are split in upper lip and palate. Nasal cavity and oral cavity will not be separated due to presence of cleft which will affect the intra oral breath pressure. The presence of the CLP can also lead to abnormal voice quality. It is difficult to get true incidence and prevalence of CLP in India because of unavailability of national epidemiological data (Mossey & Little, 2002). In India, the prevalence was 27,000-33,000 and incidence was 0.25-2.29 per 1000 live birth (Banerjee & Dhakar, 2013). Researchers reported that the incidence of voice problems is more in the cleft population compared to non cleft population.