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: 8447028
• 负责人: Jeannette D. Hoit
• 金额: $ 29.25万
• 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/8447028
• 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.

描述（由申请人提供）：尾咽是语音生产机制的关键组成部分。当成年人讲话时，大多数情况下，尾咽nx关闭，尤其是在口服（非纳斯）声音产生期间。相反，当非常年轻的婴儿发出声音时，尾咽通常是开放的。出人意料的是，静脉咽咽子始终关闭口服声音产生的年龄尚不清楚。该应用中提出的研究旨在纵向跟随健康的儿童，直到观察到一致的咽咽闭合为止。它将针对以下特定目的：（a）确定尾咽闭合始终如一地进行口服声音产生的年龄； （b）确定语音，语言和/或运动变量是否有助于解释儿童内外口服声音产生期间静脉咽函数的差异。该研究将包括60个儿童（男孩和女孩的数量相等），从4个月开始，每月进行观察，直到连续3个月观察到一致的闭合为止。将使用非侵入性气象学方法（在我们的实验室中开发）确定尾咽（开放与封闭）的状态，该方法涉及监测与声学信号相关的鼻气压。通过玩具，面部表情，图画书，模仿和言语探针会引起发声/语音，具体取决于当时的孩子的年龄。反映儿童语音曲目，表现力和接受语言技能以及运动发展的措施也将在每次会议期间获得，并将用于解释任何未对年龄造成的可变性。这项研究的结果将回答一个对理解正常语音发展至关重要的问题（“在几岁的年龄始终以口头声音产生始终关闭？”）。通过这样做，它还将为未来的研究奠定基础，这些研究有可能受到脂咽功能受损的风险，例如患有已知或怀疑神经运动障碍的婴儿，以及最终在此类婴儿的临床评估和管理中适用。