Normative Data and Dialectical Effects on Nasalance in Flemish Adults

Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2015;67(1):42-8. doi: 10.1159/000374110. Epub 2015 May 19.

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of dialect and gender and to obtain normative nasalance values for Flemish adults as measured with the Nasometer II.

Subjects and methods: One hundred and sixty-four adult subjects from the five regions in Flanders corresponding to different dialects were included in the study. The group consisted of 71 adult men and 93 adult women with a mean age of 43 years and an age range between 20 and 82 years (SD 16). Nasalance scores of connected speech using an oral, an oronasal and a nasal text were measured with the Nasometer II model 6450.

Results: The nasalance scores for the oral, oronasal and nasal texts are provided in this study. No significant differences were found across the five dialects and between men and women.

Conclusion: This study provides new Flemish normative data as measured with the Nasometer II model 6450. The results of this study are very important for clinical purposes and for future Flemish studies collecting nasalance scores of subjects with different dialects.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Belgium
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Language*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Phonation*
  • Phonetics*
  • Reference Values
  • Speech Acoustics*
  • Speech Production Measurement*
  • Voice Quality*
  • Young Adult