Hypernasal speech can result from an abnormal communication or passageway between the oral and nasal cavities

by | Mar 5, 2025 | Communication

 

Hypernasal speech can result from an abnormal communication or passageway between the oral and nasal cavities, allowing air to move through them and out the nose unintentionally when the speaker tries to pronounce sounds such as m. A test for such air passage is to place a feather at the nostril while making the m sound; if it moves, there is air leakage, and the sound the speaker makes is not the sound that her or she intends. How does this happen? One way is through clefts of the palate. Closely aligned with cleft palates, though not necessarily cooccurring with them, are cleft lips. These can affect articulation and the sounds that require the lips to be sealed tightly.

The purpose of this is for you to apply your understanding of articulation and resonation to cleft lip/palate.

Analyze physiology of communication
Apply knowledge of anatomy and physiology of communication to diagnose and treat patients with communication disorders

Describe the causes and treatment of a cleft lip and the effects of the condition of the production of speech sounds.

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

Understanding Cleft Lip and Palate

Cleft lip and cleft palate are congenital conditions that occur when the lip or palate (the roof of the mouth) fail to fuse properly during fetal development. These are distinct but related conditions.  

  • Cleft Lip:
    • A separation or split in the upper lip.  
    • Can range from a small notch to a complete separation extending into the nose.  
    • Occurs when the tissues that form the lip do not join completely before birth.  
  • Cleft Palate:
    • A split or opening in the roof of the mouth (palate).  
    • Can involve only the soft palate (back of the mouth) or extend through the hard palate (front of the mouth).  
    • Occurs when the tissues that form the palate do not join completely before birth.  

Causes of Cleft Lip and Palate

The exact causes are often complex and multifactorial, but they can include:

  • Genetic Factors:
    • Family history of cleft lip or palate.
    • Specific gene mutations.

Understanding Cleft Lip and Palate

Cleft lip and cleft palate are congenital conditions that occur when the lip or palate (the roof of the mouth) fail to fuse properly during fetal development. These are distinct but related conditions.  

  • Cleft Lip:
    • A separation or split in the upper lip.  
    • Can range from a small notch to a complete separation extending into the nose.  
    • Occurs when the tissues that form the lip do not join completely before birth.  
  • Cleft Palate:
    • A split or opening in the roof of the mouth (palate).  
    • Can involve only the soft palate (back of the mouth) or extend through the hard palate (front of the mouth).  
    • Occurs when the tissues that form the palate do not join completely before birth.  

Causes of Cleft Lip and Palate

The exact causes are often complex and multifactorial, but they can include:

  • Genetic Factors:
    • Family history of cleft lip or palate.
    • Specific gene mutations.
  • Environmental Factors:
    • Exposure to certain medications during pregnancy (e.g., some anti-seizure drugs).  
    • Maternal smoking or alcohol consumption.  
    • Maternal diabetes.  
    • Maternal nutritional deficiencies.  
  • Combination of Genetic and Environmental Factors:
    • In many cases, it is a combination of these factors.

Treatment of Cleft Lip and Palate

Treatment typically involves a multidisciplinary team, including surgeons, speech-language pathologists, orthodontists, and audiologists.  

  • Cleft Lip Repair:
    • Usually performed within the first few months of life.  
    • Surgical closure of the lip defect.  
    • Improves appearance and feeding.
  • Cleft Palate Repair:
    • Usually performed between 6 and 18 months of age.
    • Surgical closure of the palate defect.  
    • Allows for better speech development and feeding.
    • Subsequent surgeries may be needed to refine results.
  • Speech Therapy:
    • Vital for addressing speech difficulties.
    • Helps improve articulation, resonance, and velopharyngeal function (the ability to close off the nasal cavity during speech).
  • Orthodontic Treatment:
    • Addresses dental and jaw alignment issues.
  • Audiological Monitoring:
    • Cleft palate can increase the risk of ear infections and hearing problems.  

Effects on Speech Sound Production

Cleft lip and palate can significantly affect speech production:  

  • Hypernasality:
    • This is the most common speech characteristic.
    • Due to the inability to close off the nasal cavity, air escapes through the nose during speech, resulting in a nasal quality.  
  • Nasal Air Emission:
    • Audible escape of air through the nose, especially during pressure consonants (e.g., p, b, t, d, k, g, s, z, sh, ch).
  • Articulation Errors:
    • Difficulty producing certain sounds, especially those requiring lip closure (e.g., p, b, m) or adequate intraoral pressure (e.g., s, z).  
    • Compensatory articulation productions are also very common. For example, Glottal stops will replace plosive sounds.  
  • Velopharyngeal Insufficiency (VPI):
    • The velopharynx (soft palate and pharyngeal walls) may not function properly, leading to persistent hypernasality and nasal air emission even after palate repair.  
  • Reduced Oral Pressure:
    • The leak of air through the nasal passage, reduces the oral air pressure, making it difficult to produce crisp consonant sounds.

In summary, cleft lip and palate require comprehensive, long-term management to address both physical and communicative needs

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