Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Levator Veli Palatini Muscle in Speakers With Repaired Cleft Palate

132 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006.The results showed that the configurations of the LVP muscle were various among subjects with cleft palate and different from those of normal velopharyngeal anatomy. The distance, length, and thickness of the levator muscle were smaller than those of normal subjects. Angles of origin of the muscle were variable among speakers with cleft palate. Also, the results showed systematic changes of the LVP muscle configuration in terms of vowel and consonant types. Levator muscle angle of origin and length became progressively smaller from rest, nasal consonants, low vowels, high vowels, and fricatives. The speakers with cleft palate showed longer temporal characteristics of nasalization than normal speakers. This study contributes to a better understanding of cleft palate anatomy and should eventually play an essential role in providing better clinical treatment to speakers with cleft palate.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD