compensatory errors

Compensatory errors are a conventional part of an articulation disorder identified by speech pathologists in patients with Cleft palate (CP). This study aimed to evaluate the effect of new mixed articulation therapy on the perceptual and acoustic features of these errors.
   The single-case experimental design, ABA design, was used in this study. Five CP young children ages 3.9 to 5.4 months, received online multimodal articulation therapy for 5 weeks, 6 sessions per week, utilizing both standard and maximum opposition approaches. Patients underwent baseline and follow-up sessions before and after treatment for 3 weeks—1 session per week. The percentage of compensatory errors was calculated as a perceptual measure, and 2 acoustic measures—including the slope of the locus equation (LE slope) and the overall F2 Transition Frequency Extent (TFE)—were analyzed.
   Compensatory errors were eliminated in all 5 participants with the mixed articulation therapy (Percentage of nonoverlapping data [PND] ≥80%, percentage of Improvement Rate Difference [IRD] ≥73.33%), and this therapy effect was maintained for up to 3 weeks of follow-up. The acoustic measures showed a difference in the F2 changes during CV transition in compensatory error before and after therapy.
   This study supports the hypothesis that online mixed articulation therapy in children with CP can eliminate compensatory errors. The results of this study can also help extend the knowledge about F2 changes during CV transition in compensatory error before and after speech therapy to create objective and visual diagnostic documentation for patients with CP and prediction of some coarticulation models.

Voice assessment is one of the five universal parameters in assessing the speech ability of children with cleft palate. One of the characteristics of cleft palate children is the production of compensatory errors. This study aims to compare the acoustic characteristics of the voice, including fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, and average harmonic to noise ratio in cleft palate children compared to their normal peers.

A total of 38 children in the age range of 48 to 60 months (17 children with cleft palate and 21 normal peers) participated in this descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study. The children were asked to produce sustained vowels /a/ and /i/ while their speech samples were being recorded. The acoustic characteristics of the children’s voices were analyzed via the Praat software.

There were no statistically significant differences in acoustic parameters between the cleft palate children with and without compensatory errors. There were significant differences between children with cleft palate compared to their normal peers in the jitter averages of the vowel /a/ (P=0.05). The gender differences were found in the harmonic to noise ratio averages of the vowel /a/ between children with cleft palate (P=0.02).

Young children with velopharyngeal insufficiency may be at risk of voice problems.