Otolaryngologic literature is completely lacking in recorded measurements of the incidence of pathologic speech behavior except for the statistics reported by Jackson and Jackson1 on dysphonia plicae ventricularis within their practice on hoarseness, Voelker's2 statistics on the same defect in the general run of people and Chervin's3 surveys of speech defects among soldiers.
"Imperfection in articulate speech"4 occurs in other forms than phonation with the ventricular bands. It is manifested in aphasia, paralysis, dysphonia, disorders of fluency, intonation and articulation and defects arising in amentia and psychoses.
This paper will attempt to report the incidence of imperfection in every phase of speech and voice in a carefully built-up sample numbering a hundred thousand people with a typical distribution of population characteristics in accordance with the scientific classification and nomenclature of the American Speech Correction Association,5 in order to make such information available to writers in the field.
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
Procedure.