Velopharyngeal Function During Oral Sound Production in Healthy Children

健康儿童口腔发声过程中的腭咽功能

• 批准号: 8036012
• 负责人: Jeannette D. Hoit
• 金额: $ 30.79万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-04-01 至 2015-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8036012
• 关键词: Accounting; Acoustics; Address; Adult; Age; Age-Months; Air Pressure; Back; Books; Child; Child Development; Clinical Management; Development; Disease; Documentation; Early treatment; Exhibits; Facial Expression; Impairment; Infant; Knowledge; Laboratories; Language; Learning; Left; Linguistics; Measures; Monitor; Motor; Motor Skills; Nose; Oral; Oral cavity; Pharyngeal structure; Phonetics; Physiological; Production; Risk; Role; Science; Signal Transduction; Speech; Speech Development; Speech Intelligibility; Speech Sound; Structure; Time; Toy; boys; design; girls; pressure; public health relevance; research clinical testing; sound; vocalization

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The velopharynx is a critical component of the speech production mechanism. When adults speak, the velopharynx is closed most of the time, especially during oral (nonnasal) sound production. In contrast, when very young infants produced sound, the velopharynx is usually open. Surprisingly, the age at which the velopharynx closes consistently for oral sound production is still not known. The study proposed in this application is designed to follow healthy children longitudinally until consistent velopharyngeal closure is observed. It will address the following specific aims: (a) to determine the age at which velopharyngeal closure occurs consistently for oral sound production; and (b) to determine if phonetic, linguistic, and/or motor variables help to explain differences in velopharyngeal function during oral sound production within and among children. The study will include 60 children (equal numbers of boys and girls), beginning at age 4 months, with observations being made monthly until consistent closure is observed for 3 consecutive months. The status of the velopharynx (open vs closed) will be determined using a noninvasive aeromechanical approach (developed in our laboratory) that involves the monitoring of nasal air pressure in relation to the acoustic signal. Vocalizations/speech will be elicited using toys, facial expressions, picture books, imitation, and verbal probes, depending on the age of the child at the time. Measures reflecting the child's phonetic repertoire, expressive and receptive language skills, and motor development will also be obtained during each session, and will be used to help explain any variability not accounted for by age. The results of this study will answer a question that is fundamental to the understanding of normal speech development ("At what age does the velopharynx close consistently for oral sound production?"). By doing so, it will also lay the groundwork for future research on infants who are at risk for impairment of velopharyngeal function, such as those with known or suspected neuromotor disorders, and for eventual application to clinical evaluation and management of such infants. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: When adults speak, the back of the nose is closed off from the mouth (except for nasal sounds like 'm') by a valve in the back of the throat called the velopharynx, whereas when very young infants make sounds, they usually leave the velopharynx open. This study will determine when the infant (or young child) learns to close the velopharynx for speech production. This is important to understanding normal speech development, but more importantly, it is critical to being able to identify infants who are developing abnormally so that they can be offered early treatment.

描述（由申请人提供）：腭咽是言语产生机制的关键组成部分。当成年人说话时，腭咽大部分时间是闭合的，尤其是在口腔（非鼻腔）发声期间。相反，当很小的婴儿发出声音时，腭咽通常是打开的。令人惊讶的是，腭咽部持续关闭以产生口腔声音的年龄仍然未知。本申请中提出的研究旨在纵向跟踪健康儿童，直到观察到一致的腭咽闭合。它将实现以下具体目标： (a) 确定腭咽闭合以产生口腔声音的年龄； (b) 确定语音、语言和/或运动变量是否有助于解释儿童口腔发声过程中腭咽功能的差异。该研究将包括 60 名儿童（男孩和女孩人数相等），从 4 个月大开始，每月进行一次观察，直到连续 3 个月观察到一致的结果。腭咽的状态（开放与闭合）将使用无创空气力学方法（在我们实验室开发）来确定，该方法涉及监测与声学信号相关的鼻气压。根据孩子当时的年龄，将使用玩具、面部表情、图画书、模仿和语言探针来引出发声/言语。每次训练期间还将获得反映儿童语音能力、表达和接受语言技能以及运动发育的测量结果，并将用于帮助解释任何未考虑到年龄的变异性。这项研究的结果将回答一个对于理解正常言语发展至关重要的问题（“腭咽在多大年龄时会持续闭合以产生口腔声音？”）。通过这样做，它还将为未来对有腭咽功能受损风险的婴儿（例如已知或疑似神经运动障碍的婴儿）进行研究，并最终应用于此类婴儿的临床评估和管理奠定基础。 公共健康相关性：当成年人说话时，鼻子后部通过喉咙后部称为腭咽的瓣膜与口腔隔离（除了像“m”这样的鼻音），而当很小的婴儿发出声音时，他们通常使腭咽部保持开放状态。这项研究将确定婴儿（或幼儿）何时学会关闭腭咽以产生言语。这对于了解正常的言语发育很重要，但更重要的是，对于能够识别发育异常的婴儿以便为他们提供早期治疗至关重要。