Does Successful Surgical Treatment of Velopharyngeal Insufficiency Aid in the Remediation of Compensatory Misarticulation Errors?

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate whether successful surgical management of velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) aids in the remediation of compensatory misarticulation errors (CMAs) among children with VPI and CMAs.

Method: Fourteen participants with VPI and use of CMAs from a larger study were included in this retrospective cohort study. The mean age at the time of preoperative evaluation was 8.9 years (SD = 1.1). Perceptual ratings of hypernasality, phonetic transcription, and anatomic measurements from magnetic resonance imaging were performed by raters blinded to the participants' medical and surgical history. The mean percentage of CMAs produced on the American English Sentence Sample was calculated. The Wilcoxon signed-ranks test was used to compare the change in CMA use pre- and postoperatively. During the study period, 71% (n = 10) of participants received speech therapy.

Results: Nine participants had resolved hypernasality after surgery, and five had persistent hypernasality. Among those with resolved hypernasality, the mean percentage of CMAs significantly decreased from 14.6% preoperatively to 1.1% postoperatively (p = .028). For participants with persistent hypernasality, the mean percentage of CMAs decreased from 27.6% to 22%; this change was not significant (p = .586).

Conclusions: Correction of VPI may aid in the remediation of CMAs as participants have more normal anatomy to achieve velopharyngeal closure. These findings suggest correction of VPI may reduce the amount of speech therapy needed to treat CMAs.