Background: Adenoid hypertrophy alters the posture of the oro-facial structures by obstructing the upper airways and restricting nasal breathing. These postural changes may eventually have an impact on facial skeletal development and dental occlusion. The postural adjustments may negatively impact a child’s life by affecting a number of speech-production factors.

Objective: This study aimed to detect the speech sound disorders in school aged Egyptian children with adenoid hypertrophy and if they were related to structure changes in the airway that caused by adenoid hypertrophy.

Methods: 300 school-aged Egyptian children aged from (5–15) years old with speech sound disorders (SSD). They were divided into 2 groups; Group 1 consisted of 150 children with speech (SSD) and adenoid hypertrophy, and Group 2 consisted of 150 children complained from (SSD) without adenoid hypertrophy. All children were evaluated by protocol of language assessment and articulation test used in Assiut University Hospital.

Results: Speech sound disorders (SSD) mainly the omission and distortion are more frequent in (group 2) while, the sub­stitution errors are more prominent in (group 1). The interdental sigmatism was the most frequent speech sound disorder in (group 1) especially those with adenoid hypertrophy occupying more than 50% of the airway, whereas, devoicing, gliding and back to front are more frequent in (group 2).

Conclusions: Adenoid hypertrophy can affects only the /s/ sound production which needs precise placements of the articula­tors especially the tongue, and seems to be vulnerable due to the structural alteration of the oral cavity caused by adenoid hypertrophy.

Background: Persistent inflammation of the nose and sinuses for more than 3 months is known as chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). Relation between CRS and voice problems had been considered, however studies that highlighted the existence of dysphonia in CRS patients or the effect of sinusitis on the individual voice and the larynx are sparse.

Objective: We aimed to detect the impacts of CRS on the laryngeal mucosa and voice quality among children (6-18 years old).

Methods: A total of 120 children aged (6-18) years old. They were divided into 2 groups: the controls (60 children) who are healthy, normal, and hadn't CRS, and the patient group (60 children) who met the CRS criteria. All children were evaluated by using the protocol of voice evaluation in Phoniatric Unit in Assiut university Hospital including auditory perceptual assessment of voice, flexible fiberoptic laryngoscope for visual assessment of the vocal tract and multidimensional voice profile for acoustic analysis.

Results: The most frequent presentations in CRS patient were chronic nasal obstruction and phonasthenic manifestations. There were statistically significant variations between both groups regarding auditory perceptual assessment, laryngeal findings and acoustic parameters. Additionally, there was a positive correlation between CRS severity and increasing grade of dysphonia.

Conclusions: CRS has impacts on auditory perception assessment of voice, laryngeal findings and some acoustic parameters such as fundamental frequency, soft phonation index and harmonic to noise ratio. Increasing severity of CRS correlated with progression of dysphonia. CRS is considered a risk element for development of dysphonia.

Background: Patients with orofacial cleft are at high risk for neurobehavioral problems including learning disability, impaired language function, psychosocial adjustment issues, and persistently reduced academic achievement. All these factors may be related to decrease intellectual abilities of those patients. The presence of velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) leads to affection of speech intelligibility due to atypical consonant productions, abnormal nasal resonance, nasal air emission, compensatory articulatory mechanism, and facial grimace.

Objective: This study aimed at assessing the cognitive functions of patients with (VPI) and their effect on speech intelligibility.

Methods: Fifty patients with (VPI) were selected from the Outpatient Clinic of the Phoniatric Unit in Assiut University Hospital. All patients were evaluated by protocol of nasality assessment including auditory perceptual assessment of speech, assessment of overall intelligibility of speech, nasoendoscopy, and psychometric evaluation.

Results: The mean intelligence quotient (IQ) of patients with VPI was 75.2±14.5 with a range between 41 and 107. The main defect was present in quantitative potential and then verbal ability followed by visual ability with memory having the highest mean. Patients with repaired cleft palate had the highest score (86.53±9.96), while the least score was reported among those with velopharyngeal disproportion (72.50± 9.59). There was a non-significant negative correlation between IQ degree and speech unintelligibility (p = 0.82).

Conclusion: About half of the patients with (VPI) have below average mentality. Patients with repaired cleft palate had the highest (IQ) score. Increased (IQ) score was accompanied by decreased speech unintelligibility, although it does not reach the level of significance.

Objective: Laryngopharyngeal reflux is a silent cause of laryngeal disorders which was documented in the last decade by many studies. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of laryngeal reflux in GERD cases and to evaluate the effect of GERD treatment on these laryngeal disorders.

Patients and Methods: In this single-arm (pre and post) quasi-experimental study, eighty patients with GERD were examined for laryngeal disorders by rigid laryngoscopy and assessed by the Reflux Finding Score (RFS). Complaints of patients were evaluated using the 9-item Reflux Symptom Index (RSI) questionnaire. Patients received medical treatment of GERD in the form of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) only, and they were reassessed after 3 months for improvement in their symptoms and signs using RSI and RFS systems to compare patient complaints and findings in the laryngeal endoscopy pre- and post-treatment.

Results: Among 80 confirmed GERD cases, 70 (87.5%) suffered from laryngeal disorders. Throat clearing and postnasal drip were the most prevalent symptoms, and ventricular obliteration and erythema, vocal fold and diffuse laryngeal edema, and posterior commissure hypertrophy were the most detected signs. Significant improvement in both symptoms and signs after 3 months of PPI therapy was clearly observed. The resistance rate among our studied patients was reported to be 22.4%.

Conclusion: GERD can be considered as an inducer or cause of laryngeal disorders, with a significant direct proportional relationship between the severity of GERD and both the RSI and RFS. PPI greatly improves laryngeal disorders among GERD patients with a high response rate (77.6%).