Prevalencia de nasalidad en fonemas fricativos y africados en usuarios con tubos de ventilación postoperatorios de fisura labioalveolopalatina (FLAP) de FonoAtelier, Cuenca 2025

Abstract

Background: Cleft lip and palate (CLP) is a common congenital malformation, according to the WHO, that compromises anatomy, hearing, and speech production. Objective assessment of resonance, especially in fricative and affricate phonemes, allows for the identification of persistent alterations, providing key information for speech therapy intervention and follow-up. Objective: The objective of this research project was to determine the prevalence of nasality in fricative and affricate phonemes in users with postoperative ventilation tubes for cleft lip and palate (CLP) of FonoAtelier, Cuenca 2025. Methodology: A quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted. Resonance assessment was performed using the nasometer, and data analysis was carried out using SPSS software version 29.0 (2022). Results: The sample consisted of 50 users. Nasality alterations were present in 86% of the sample, while 14% showed no difficulties. Hypernasality was the most frequent alteration at 52.5%, mainly affecting the phonemes /j/ and /tf/ 74%. Normal pronunciation reached 39.5%, and hyponasality was infrequent at 8%. Finally, the influence of the duration of use of ventilation tubes on resonance characteristics is highlighted. Conclusions: The findings show a high heterogeneity in the resonance and hearing of the users, in accordance with what has been reported in previous research; however, more studies with this approach are required since this is a still relatively unexplored area.