TY - JOUR
T1 - Development of velopharyngeal closure for vocalization during the first 2 years of life
AU - Bunton, Kate
AU - Hoit, Jeannette D.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by National Institutes of Health/ National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders R01 DC010140, awarded to Jeannette D. Hoit. The authors want to thank all the graduate students who contributed to this research, especially Caety Chong, Keegan Gallagher, Alyssa Heeman, Sarah (Wikert) Kaskie, Amy Lougher, Amanda (Moody) Morse, Kristin Rumery, Christine (Dawson) Williams, Morgan Wilson, Amanda (Van Vianen) Woodmansee, and Olivia Vinikoor. The authors are grateful to Patricia Jones for her invaluable statistical consultation and analyses and to David Zajac and Mary Alt for their advice on certain aspects of the protocol. Most of all, the authors want to express their gratitude to the late Thomas J. Hixon who was a key player at the inception of this study and who inspired the authors to pursue this line of research.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by National Institutes of Health/ National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication DisordersR01 DC010140, awarded to Jeannette D. Hoit. The authors want to thank all the graduate students who contributed to this research, especially Caety Chong, Keegan Gallagher, Alyssa Heeman, Sarah (Wikert) Kaskie, Amy Lougher, Amanda (Moody) Morse, Kristin Rumery, Christine (Dawson) Williams, Morgan Wilson, Amanda (Van Vianen) Woodmansee, and Olivia Vinikoor. The authors are grateful to Patricia Jones for her invaluable statistical consultation and analyses and to David Zajac and Mary Alt for their advice on certain aspects of the protocol. Most of all, the authors want to express their gratitude to the late Thomas J. Hixon who was a key player at the inception of this study and who inspired the authors to pursue this line of research.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
PY - 2018/3
Y1 - 2018/3
N2 - Purpose: The vocalizations of young infants often sound nasalized, suggesting that the velopharynx is open during the 1st few months of life. Whereas acoustic and perceptual studies seemed to support the idea that the velopharynx closes for vocalization by about 4 months of age, an aeromechanical study contradicted this (Thom, Hoit, Hixon, & Smith, 2006). Thus, the current large-scale investigation was undertaken to determine when the velopharynx closes for speech production by following infants during their first 2 years of life. Method: This longitudinal study used nasal ram pressure to determine the status of the velopharynx (open or closed) during spontaneous speech production in 92 participants (46 male, 46 female) studied monthly from age 4 to 24 months. Results: The velopharynx was closed during at least 90% of the utterances by 19 months, though there was substantial variability across participants. When considered by sound category, the velopharynx was closed from most to least often during production of oral obstruents, approximants, vowels (only), and glottal obstruents. No sex effects were observed. Conclusion: Velopharyngeal closure for spontaneous speech production can be considered complete by 19 months, but closure occurs earlier for speech sounds with higher oral pressure demands.
AB - Purpose: The vocalizations of young infants often sound nasalized, suggesting that the velopharynx is open during the 1st few months of life. Whereas acoustic and perceptual studies seemed to support the idea that the velopharynx closes for vocalization by about 4 months of age, an aeromechanical study contradicted this (Thom, Hoit, Hixon, & Smith, 2006). Thus, the current large-scale investigation was undertaken to determine when the velopharynx closes for speech production by following infants during their first 2 years of life. Method: This longitudinal study used nasal ram pressure to determine the status of the velopharynx (open or closed) during spontaneous speech production in 92 participants (46 male, 46 female) studied monthly from age 4 to 24 months. Results: The velopharynx was closed during at least 90% of the utterances by 19 months, though there was substantial variability across participants. When considered by sound category, the velopharynx was closed from most to least often during production of oral obstruents, approximants, vowels (only), and glottal obstruents. No sex effects were observed. Conclusion: Velopharyngeal closure for spontaneous speech production can be considered complete by 19 months, but closure occurs earlier for speech sounds with higher oral pressure demands.
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U2 - 10.1044/2017_JSLHR-S-17-0208
DO - 10.1044/2017_JSLHR-S-17-0208
M3 - Article
C2 - 29490338
AN - SCOPUS:85044189475
SN - 1092-4388
VL - 61
SP - 549
EP - 560
JO - Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
JF - Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
IS - 3
ER -