Clinical applications of EPG to Japanese cleft palate and glossectomy patients

Abstract

Electropalatography (EPG) has been used to study articulatory movements in 25 cleft palate cases and three glossectomy cases producing Japanese VCV syllables. In those with cleft palate, three recently defined types of misarticulation, Japanese palatalized articulation, Japanese lateral misarticulation and Japanese nasopharyngeal articulation, were confirmed objectively. In each case of glossectomy, the area of palato-lingual contact at the moment of maximum contact appears to be limited to some definite region of the palate, even for different consonants. However, the degree of intelligibility of each sound is quite different depending on the manner of articulation. These results show that EPG is a useful diagnostic device for analyzing the articulation disorders in cleft palate and glossectomy.