Effectiveness of nasopharyngoscopic biofeedback in clients with cleft palate speech—a systematic review

Abstract

Objective. To conduct a systematic review analyzing the effectiveness of nasopharyngoscopic biofeedback in clients with cleft lip and palate and velopharyngeal dysfunction. Method. Extensive electronic search and analysis of the databases of Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, ERIC, PsycInfo, CINAHL, AMED, Journals@Ovid, and German Databases, including all papers published since 1970 plus a manual search of the Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal (1970-3/2010). Results. Six studies met the inclusion criteria. Their analysis reflects a low level of evidence and a broad heterogeneity concerning age range, intervention methods, and outcome measurement. Conclusion. The analyzed studies show that nasopharyngoscopy may be effective only in combination with traditional speech therapy in helping patients with cleft palate speech optimize their velopharyngeal closure in articulation, but the quantity and quality of studies are limited.

Key words::

• Biofeedback
• cleft lip and palate
• cleft palate speech
• cleft palate
• compensatory articulation
• nasopharyngoscopy
• speech therapy
• velopharyngeal dysfunction
• velopharyngeal insufficiency

Acknowledgements

The authors like to thank Miriam Meinusch for supporting data analysis.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no declarations of interest. They are solely responsible for the content and authorship of the paper.