Abstract:

Objective Using the task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI) technique, the current study aimed to investigate the pattern of neural activation for processing the distorted speech on patients with repaired cleft palate. Methods Three blocks of speech stimuli, including the hypernasal speech, glottal stop, and typical speech were played to a group of 16 participants with cleft palate and another group of 20 typical adult listeners. Using a randomized block design paradigm, the participants were instructed to perceive the stimuli. Simultaneously, fMRI data were collected. The different brain activation pattern between the cleft palate group and the typical group was analyzed. Results ①Compared with the typical listener group, the cleft palate group showed a significant activation at the right middle frontal gyrus during the processing of the glottal stop(FDR-corrected, P<0.05). ②In the cleft palate group, there was significant difference in brain activation responses to different speech stimuli. The activation responses during the perceiving of glottal stop stimuli were significantly lager in the right fusiform gyrus, superior occipital gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, angular gyrus, and precentral gyrus than to the other speech stimuli(FDR-corrected, P<0.05). Conclusion The speakers with cleft palate showed a distinctive pattern of neural activation during their perceiving process of the distorted speech, such as the glottal stop. The involvement of the right hemispheric speech-related brain area may suggest that patients with cleft palate could have some compensatory strategy during the speech processing.

Key words: fMRI, cleft palate speech, speech perception, glottal stop, hypernasal speech