Abstract: Objective To analyze the voice quality of children post operation for complete cleft palate through subjective and objective evaluation and explore the correlation between them. Methods Electroglottography analysis was used in the natural sound /a/ of 30 postoperative children with complete cleft palate and 34 normal children, and the difference was compared. The natural prolonged sound /a/ was assessed with GRBAS (grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, strain) in the children with complete cleft palate, and the correlation between the subjective and objective results was analyzed. Results F0, harmonic to noise ratio (HNR) were less, and the shimmer, jitter, normalized noise energy (NNE) and nasalance was greater in postoperative children with complete cleft palate than in normal children. For the children with complete cleft palate, G and R mainly rated as levels 1 and 2, B also rated as levels 1 and 2 in less than half of the children. There were low or very low correlation between all subjective and objective results, excepted G, R, B and F0, which showed moderate correlation. Conclusion The vocal cords vibrate slowly and irregularly in postoperative children with complete cleft palate, suggesting mild and moderate voice disorder, and they sound hoarsely with roughness and breathiness. There are poor correlations between the subjective and objective assessment, and need to be used in combination for the children with complete cleft palate.

Key words: complete cleft palate, voice, subjectivity, objectivity, correlation analysis