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The main symptom of hypernasality is a voice that sounds like it’s coming through the nose. This can distract listeners from what your child is saying.
Talk with your healthcare provider if your child’s voice sounds like it’s coming through their nose. This problem can usually be treated.
Hypernasality is caused by faulty structures in the mouth that allow air to escape into the nose area. This can be caused by:
A speech-language therapist can listen to your child talking and check which sounds they are able to make. They may hold a mirror near your child’s nose and mouth to see when the mirror fogs up. This can help show the path air is taking out of the mouth when speaking. The speech therapist can help identify the cause of your child’s hypernasality.
Speech therapy usually helps children with hypernasality. If speech therapy alone doesn't help enough, your healthcare provider can recommend other options. This may include surgery to repair the structures inside the mouth that direct airflow. Children who have surgery usually also have speech therapy afterward.
Hypernasality is not a condition that can be prevented. It can only be treated.
ACPA family resources:
http://www.cleftline.org/
Hypernasality is a condition in which air flows through the nose during speech and affects the sound of the voice. It’s also called a resonance (REZ-un-nents) disorder.
Resonance is the way sound vibrates as air flows through the parts of the mouth and nose when speaking. Normally, airflow through the mouth and nose is controlled by a valve that separates the mouth from the nose, called the velopharyngeal (vee-low-fair-in-JEE-ul) valve. When we breathe the valve stays open. When we speak, the back part of the roof of the mouth (called the soft palate) closes the valve to make air flow through the mouth.
Hypernasality happens when the valve does not work right or the structures of the mouth and nose allow air to flow through the mouth instead of the nose. For example, the valve may be shorter than normal or may not close all the way. The valve may not be able to move correctly for other reasons. Or, the tissues that make up the roof of the mouth may not be joined together (called a cleft palate). Any of these situations can cause air to flow through the nose when speaking and create hypernasality.