Objective: To find an objective index to describe the severity of hypernasality in cleft palate patients through speech spectroanalysis.
Methods: 60 audio records of cleft palate patients were analyzed by spectroanalysis, the relative energy in low frequency area (REL) was calculated in the LPC spectrogram. One experienced speech therapist and two nonprofessionals made perceptual judgments of the same records. Spearman correlation analysis was conducted to test if the 3 groups of data have significant correlations.
Results: REL had significant correlation with professional judgments (correlation coefficient was 0.272, P < 0.05) and nonprofessional judgments (correlation coefficient was 0.274, P < 0.05).
Conclusion: REL can be used as one objective reference in the judgment of the severity of hypernasality.