Young Allen, Spinner Alycia
University of Nevada Las Vegas
Velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) is a disorder of the velopharyngeal sphincter or valve, which separates the nasal and oral cavities during speech, swallowing, vomiting, blowing, and sucking. When the soft palate and pharyngeal walls cannot form an effective seal, an abnormal connection between the nasal and oral cavities leads to hypernasal speech, increased nasal resonance, regurgitation, nasal emission, and decreased intraoral pressure during speech. The overall result is reduced speech intelligibility and significant functional and social impairment. Diagnosis and treatment require a multidisciplinary approach centered around speech-language pathology, otolaryngology, and plastic surgery. VPI is the favored nomenclature, as it denotes a deficit of the velopharyngeal closure without implying a specific cause. It can be further subdivided into VPI, incompetence, and mislearning, which provides additional information on the causation.VPI indicates structural defects, incompetency results from neurologic dysfunction, and mislearning arises from acquired articulation errors.
腭咽闭合不全（VPI）是腭咽括约肌或瓣膜的一种疾病，该括约肌或瓣膜在说话、吞咽、呕吐、吹气和吸吮时分隔鼻腔和口腔。当软腭和咽壁不能形成有效的密封时，鼻腔和口腔之间的异常连接会导致鼻音过重、鼻共鸣增加、反流、鼻漏气以及说话时口腔内压力降低。总体结果是言语清晰度降低以及严重的功能和社交障碍。诊断和治疗需要以言语语言病理学、耳鼻喉科和整形手术为核心的多学科方法。VPI是首选的术语，因为它表示腭咽闭合存在缺陷，而不暗示特定原因。它可进一步细分为VPI、功能不全和学习错误，这提供了有关病因的更多信息。VPI表明结构缺陷，功能不全是由神经功能障碍引起的，而学习错误则源于后天的发音错误。
