[Effects of Hawley retainer and vacuum-formed retainer on articulation of Chinese speech of adult orthodontic patients: a randomized controlled trial].
OBJECTIVE
This study investigated the influence of Hawley retainer and vacuum-formed retainer on the articu-lation of Chinese speech of adult orthodontic patients.


METHODS
A total of 20 volunteers were recruited in this randomized controlled trial in accordance with the inclusion criteria. Participants were randomly distributed into two groups, namely, the Hawley retainer group and the vacuum-formed retainer group. Speech performance was evaluated at the following time inter-vals: before wearing retainers (T0), immediately after wearing both upper and lower retainers (T1), 24 h later (T2), 1 week later (T3), and 1 month later (T4). The phonetic parameters were acquired through the use of computer-based voice analysis software Praat version 5.4.21, and the final data were analyzed using SPSS 19.0.


RESULTS
Both retainers can influence the phonetic parameters of vowels /e/, /i/, and /ü/ and consonants /s/, /f/, /x/, /t/, /j/, and /q/. However, the Hawley retainer showed a more remarkable effect on the articulation of Chinese speech, and the distortion of /i/, /ü/, and /s/ sounds can last for more than 1 month. Nevertheless, the recovery period of the patients' phonetic function in the vacuum-formed retainer group was within 1 month.


CONCLUSIONS
Both retainers can induce distortion of some Chinese vowels and consonants in the speech of adult orthodontic patients, but the Hawley retainer can more significantly influence the articulation of Chinese speech than vacuum-formed retainer. .
School of Foreign Lan-guages, University of Electronic Science and Technology, Chengdu 611731, China.
Wan
W
Jia
State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, Dept. of Orthodontics, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
You
Y
Lun
State Key Labo-ratory of Oral Diseases, Dept. of Prosthodontics, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
Chen
C
Junyu
State Key Labo-ratory of Oral Diseases, Dept. of Prosthodontics, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
Chen
C
Zhiqiang
State Key Labo-ratory of Oral Diseases, Dept. of Prosthodontics, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
Wang
W
Tong
D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D016382:Orthodontic Appliance Design; D018704:Orthodontic Retainers; D013060:Speech; D014618:Vacuum
Chinese phonetics; Hawley retainer; randomized controlled trail; vacuum-formed retainer