Excessive nasal airflow during speech can best be detected by which tactic?

• A. Looking in a mirror while speaking
• B. Being aware of vowel-sound productions
• C. Speaking while alternately leaving the nostrils open and pinching them closed
• D. Monitoring production of consonant blends

Answer: (C)

Excessive nasal airflow during speech shows up as nasal emission, where air leaks through the nose as you speak. The most direct way to detect this is to actively test how the nose contributes to your speech by controlling the nasal pathway while you talk. By alternately leaving the nostrils open and pinching them closed, you create conditions where air can exit through the nose or must stay oral. If you notice nasal air leakage when the nostrils are open, and the leakage changes or diminishes when a nostril is closed, you’re directly observing the nasal component of the airflow. This hands-on manipulation makes nasal airflow detectable in a straightforward, observable way. Other approaches, like looking in a mirror, focusing on vowel sounds, or monitoring consonant blends, are less direct at revealing nasal airflow.