Nasalance score of Japanese passage in difference native language speakers

Objectives: Nasometer has been introduced to evaluate velopharyngeal function since 1964, and many studies using it to improve the speaking efficiency in rehabilitation care of maxillo-facial surgery patients. By using the Nasometer, patients have to read passages without nasalsound such as the mandatory Zoo passage. However, there are various passages used depend on each language and local world zones. In Japan, There is one passage for this purpose, test without nasalsound, “Do butsu ta chi wa sorotte utta wo utta ta” (the meaning is all the animals are coming out to singing together). This passage is short and very easy to utter enough for foreigner to pronounce. The purpose of this study is to prove this passage whether it can be used by the foreigner who cannot speak Japanese well or not.

Materials and Methods: Three groups of samples, Thai adults, Japanese adults and various race adults, each group is composed of 20 people, age 25-40 years old were asking to read the Japanese passage, “Do butsu ta chi wa sorotte utta wo utta ta”, 6 times each, recorded and calculated their Nasalance score by NasometerII model 6400 (KayPENTAX. Lincoln Park, NJ, USA ). The average Nasalance score of each group would be compared with ANOVA.

Results: The average Nasalance score of Thai group wais 8.6, Japanese group was 7.515 and Various race group was 13.6. There was significant difference in mean of each group (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Whether this Japanese passage for Nasometer test, “Do butsu ta chi wa sorotte utta wo utta ta”, is short and very easy to utter enough for foreigner to pronounce, it cannot be used by other native language, such as Thai or English, speakers. The test passage for Nasometer has to be changed due to the native language of tested subject.