Pattern of speech articulation errors in Nigerian individuals with cleft lip and or palate anomalies following repair

Abstract

The occurrence of cleft lip and palate anomaly can impact on an affected individual’s quality of life. Cleft of the palate particularly  significantly affects the production of speech. This article aims to describe the speech errors following palatoplasty procedures observed from cleft centres within Nigeria. Ability to produce high pressure sounds, frequencies of speech errors and speech intelligibility were analysed from data collated from five cleft centres. The speech services in these centres were provided in partnership with Smile Train, a nongovernmental organization based in the United States of America. Glottal stop was the commonest speech error while the speech intelligibility was considered mild in the majority of cases. This report serves as a form of preliminary overview of the speech pattern of individuals with repaired cleft palate in our environment.