Objective Assessment of Hypernasality in Patients with Cleft Lip and Palate with the NasalView System: A Clinical Validation Study

Introduction. The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the NasalView system as a screening tool for hypernasality within the scope of a routine diagnostic procedure in cleft lip and palate patients. Material and Methods. In a collective of 95 patients with cleft and lip palate ranging from 4 to 25 years of age, hypernasality was exploited perceptually, patients were classified in four degrees, and nasalance was measured objectively with the NasalView system. Speech stimuli existed in one nasal and one nonnasal sentence; nasalance ratio and distance were calculated. Results. The test-retest error was within a range of 2%. Sensitivity ranged from 83.3% to 91.1% for the nonnasal sentence, from 70% to 78.4% for nasalance ratio and from 68.1% to 81.1% for nasalance distance. Specifity ranged from 87% to 93.1% for the nonnasal sentence, from 69.6% to 97.5% for nasalance ratio, and from 70.7% to 73.9% for nasalance distance. Conclusions. With a quick and gentle screening procedure, it is easily possible to identify hypernasal patients by an objective diagnostic tool of hypernasality, the NasalView system, with good reliability and validity.