Cephalometric measurements of nasopharyngeal and palatal flow in cleft palate children by comparison with hearing impairment

: The comparison of the audiological results (audiometry, tympanometry 226 Hz and multifrequency tympanometry) and cephalometric measurements of the nasopharynx in cleft palate children was presented. A group of 85 children 7-15 years old, operated because of cleft lip and palate during early childhood were considered for the purpose of this study. With the results of the audiological examination, as the base, the children were divided on three subgroups: the first characterized by pathological audiogram and tympanogram, the second with normal audiograms and pathological tympanograms, the third with normal audiograms and tympanograms. On the radiological pictures (lateral tele-radiograms) the linear measurements of certain were introduced as follows: the nasopharyngeal airflow (PN) and the palatal airflow (PP). In order to obtain the radiological coefficients (PN/A) and (PP/A), the linear measurements mentioned above in relation to the adenoid size were used. The results of measurements obtained for the first and second subgroup were significant different to the relevant results in the third subgroup and controls but the best correlation obtained between audiological parameters and radiographic nasopharyngeal airway. This results prove the existence of certain relation between measured quantities and audiological examination in cleft palate children.