This study aimed at examining speech defects of openbite patients, which were analized in terms of formant frequency for vowels and word pronunciation length for consonants. In addition, the upper and lower lip (perioral m.) activity was tested by the EMG. The tongue force was measured by the strain gauge, and the speech discrimination test was carried out.
One experimental group and one control group were used for this study and they were respectively composed of six female openbite patients and six normal-occlusion´fem ales. Eight monophthongs, two fricatives and two affricatives were chosen for speech analysis. Speeches of the above-mentioned groups were recorded and then analized by the ILS/PC-1 software. Four hundred most frequently used monosyllables were also ch,"asen for discrimination score.
Openbite patients showed the following characteristics:
1. Abnormality in case of /a/, /e/, /e/, /i/ F2 and /e/, /a/ Fi .
2. Significantly elongated length in their pronunciation of /h/ and /Ch/ and somewhat elongated length also in their pronunciation of /s/ and /c/.
3. Significant upper lip activity according to the EMG test during pronunciation of the bilabial consonants.
4. Relatively weak tongue force according to the strain gauge measurement.
5. According to the speech discrimination test, high rate of misarticulation in case of (a) initial /p/ /s´/ and / ts´/,
(b) /a/, /c/, /e/, /je/, /o/, /c/, /jo/, /u/, /we/, and /i/
(c) final /D/.
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