Test-Retest Nasalance Score Variability in Hypernasal Speakers

Abstract

Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate test-retest nasalance score variability in subjects with hypernasal resonance. Design Two groups of subjects with hypernasal speech recited both the Turtle Passage and the Mouse Passage two times each. For one group, the Nasometer headgear was not changed between repetitions of each stimulus (NCHG; n = 17); and for the other group, the headgear was changed between repetitions (CHG; n = 18). Three subjects in the CHG group would not recite the Mouse Passage two times. Participants The subjects were 35 patients with hypernasal speech followed by a cleft palate team. Main Outcome Measures The outcome measures were the four nasalance scores obtained for each subject. Results There was no significant difference between first and second repetitions for either stimulus in either the NCHG group or in the CHG group. Cumulative frequency tables showed that for the Turtle Passage-NCHG condition, 15 of the 17 (88%) repeated nasalance scores were within 5 nasalance points of each other. For the CHG condition, however, only 9 of 18 (50%) repeated nasalance scores were within 5 points. For the Mouse Passage-NCHG condition, 15 of the 17 (88%) repeated nasalance scores were within 5 points. For the CHG condition, however, only 11 of 15 (73%) repeated scores were within 5 points. Conclusions Test-retest variability was greater in a population of hypernasal patients than that reported in other studies for normal speakers, and headgear change increased test-retest variability.