Association between Vocal Intensity and Velopharyngeal Closure in Subjects without Complaint Dysfunction Velopharyngeal

Introduction: The velopharyngeal sphincter is a muscle belt located between the oropharynx and the nasopharynx. The pharynx is one of the structures responsible to direct the airflow that produces the speech.

Objective: This study aimed to verify the association between vocal intensity of speech with velopharyngeal mechanism behavior.

Method: The sample consisted of 16 subjects without complaints of velopharyngeal dysfunction who underwent multidimensional assessments: contemplating an assessment of videonasoendoscopy, a dynamic image analysis carried out by assessors, analysis of the same images through specialized software, and acoustic analysis of vocal emission in three different intensities: strong, usual, and low.

Results: The usual voice intensity measured at examination in a noisy environment was significantly higher than the usual intensity measured in a quiet environment. The behavior of the velopharyngeal sphincter was similar comparing the three intensities requested, showing no correlation between the two variables.

Conclusion: The findings of this study regarding the association between vocal intensity and behavior of the velopharyngeal mechanism were not statistically significant for the sample in question. The closing percentage indicated by the software was the same for all standard closing assessors, regardless of intensity and sentence. Even when the evaluators indicated that there were differences in the behavior of the electronic viewfinder (EVF), the software showed similarity between them. These data support the need for a definition of standardization of aspects to be considered in judging the behavior of the EVF.