Semi-occluded Vocal Tract Exercise in Velopharyngeal Dysfunction in Patients With Cleft Palate

Exercise Of Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract In Velopharyngeal Dysfunction In Patients With Cleft Palate : Effects Of Short-Term

Analyze the effect of SOVTE (Semi-occluded Vocal Tract Exercise), with high resistance tube, on the velopharyngeal mechanism, for speech rehabilitation of twelve patients with cleft palate with vocal alterations, after four weeks. The study was developed in the city of Porto Alegre, southern Brazil. The hypothesis of the study is that after four weeks of exclusive therapy with exercise it will be improvement in the voice of patients with cleft palate.

The study is an uncompared before-after clinical trial. All patients were submitted to videonasoendoscopy and had their vocal emissions recorded before and after the four weeks of speech therapy. These individuals were submitted to multidimensional evaluation comprised of analysis of images generated by specialized videonasoendoscopy software, analysis of speech emissions by perceptual-auditory evaluation and acoustic analysis, and vocal self-assessment.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Individuals with surgically repaired CLP (Cleft lip and palate), regardless of gender and regardless of the type of clef palate.
• The sample only included patients aged 6+ because this is the ideal age to be submitted to videonasoendoscopy.
• These patients attended four speech therapy sessions.
• All individuals agreed to participate in this research voluntarily.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Individuals with cleft lip and palate associated with genetic syndromes or other congenital malformation
• Individuals who proved unable to do SOVTE (Semi-occluded Vocal Tract Exercise),
• No condition to be submitted to videonasoendoscopy examination,
• Patients who did not attend the four sessions of therapy or who did not do exercise at home were excluded from the sample.