Altered speech following adenoidectomy: a 20 year experience.

Altered speech related to velopharyngeal insufficiency is a rare but well-recognised complication of adenoidectomy. Over a 20 year period, 42 patients were referred to the Edinburgh cleft team for investigation of altered speech persisting for more than 12 months after adenoidectomy. We studied the cases to ascertain the incidence, clinical features and causes of altered speech in these patients and to assess the efficacy of a selective treatment policy.

CleftNet (Scotland): a network for the treatment of cleft palate speech using EPG.

Electropalatography (EPG) has proven its effectiveness in changing abnormal articulatory placement in cleft palate speech but clinicians often do not have ready access to such equipment. In order to improve access to EPG therapy, a network has been established which electronically links cleft palate centres throughout Scotland with EPG specialists based at Queen Margaret College (QMC), Edinburgh. The network was set up through a collaborative project entitled 'CleftNet Scotland', funded by the Scottish Office Department of Health.

The effect of sphincter pharyngoplasty on the range of velar movement.

The aim of this study was to assess the mobility of the soft palate following sphincter pharyngoplasty in patients with velopharyngeal incompetence of variable aetiology. Pre- and postoperative videotape recordings of lateral view videofluoroscopy of 24 patients were retrospectively studied and compared with regard to the range of velar movement. Tracings of the velopharyngeal port were made on acetate paper directly from the television monitor and absolute angle measurements were taken.

The role of pharyngoplasty in congenital neurogenic speech disorders.

Children with dysarthria are often seriously handicapped by their inability to communicate. Velopharyngeal incompetence may contribute to their speech difficulties but the indications for pharyngoplasty are poorly defined. The speech of 41 children, thought to have a defect of neurological origin and referred for possible pharyngoplasty, was assessed by a speech therapist, by nasopharyngoscopy and by multiview videofluoroscopy.