Comparison of Tonar II, pressure-flow, and listener judgments of hypernasality in the assessment of velopharyngeal function.

The purpose of the present investigation was to study the interrelationships among Tonar II, pressure-flow, and listener judgments of hypernasality in a consecutive series of patients. The subjects employed were 124 children and adults seen for evaluation at the University of North Carolina Oral-Facial and Communicative Disorders Program. The results indicated that nasalance scores and clinical ratings of hypernasality change systematically among patients as a function of their pressure-flow categorization. A discussion is presented concerning the impact that differential use of information from these assessment techniques can have upon patient management.