<p>Lip force has been found to affect the ability to achieve satisfying speech production and swallowing. A normative value for lip force in adults has been measured to 15 Newton (N). Corresponding value for children measured with Lip Force Meter 100 (LF100) does not exist. In the current study lip force was measured in children between the ages of five and ten years. The aim of the study was to obtain normative values for children with typical development in separate age groups. Production of syllable with initial bilabial plosive was further calculated to see if any correlation between lip force and syllable production existed. An examination of learning effect in repeated measures was also executed. The age group 5:0-5:11 only included four participants. This age group was therefore not included in the statistical measurements.</p><p>The common mean for lip force in all children was 14.98 N. The mean for each age group was 12.75 N for 5:0-5:11 year olds, 14.69 N for 6:0-6:11, 16.93 N for 7:0-7:11, 14.97 N for 8:0-8:11 and 14.14 N for the age group 9:0-9:11 years. In the current study no significant differences in lip force was found between age groups.</p><p>The common mean for syllable production in all children was 5.50 syllables/second. A significant difference between the ages six and seven year olds as well as six and nine year olds was found, where the older age groups showed higher values. No significant correlation was found between lip force and syllable production.</p><p>Analysis of the learning effect over three lip force measurements showed tendencies for increased lip force at the last measure. The difference was not significant. In the present study no statistical measurements for gender differences were executed for each separate age group due to small numbers. Measurements in age group 6:0-9:11 showed tendencies for higher values of both lip force and syllable production for girls. These differences were not significant.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p>

Lip force has been found to affect the ability to achieve satisfying speech production and swallowing. A normative value for lip force in adults has been measured to 15 Newton (N). Corresponding value for children measured with Lip Force Meter 100 (LF100) does not exist. In the current study lip force was measured in children between the ages of five and ten years. The aim of the study was to obtain normative values for children with typical development in separate age groups. Production of syllable with initial bilabial plosive was further calculated to see if any correlation between lip force and syllable production existed. An examination of learning effect in repeated measures was also executed. The age group 5:0-5:11 only included four participants. This age group was therefore not included in the statistical measurements. The common mean for lip force in all children was 14.98 N. The mean for each age group was 12.75 N for 5:0-5:11 year olds, 14.69 N for 6:0-6:11, 16.93 N for 7:0-7:11, 14.97 N for 8:0-8:11 and 14.14 N for the age group 9:0-9:11 years. In the current study no significant differences in lip force was found between age groups. The common mean for syllable production in all children was 5.50 syllables/second. A significant difference between the ages six and seven year olds as well as six and nine year olds was found, where the older age groups showed higher values. No significant correlation was found between lip force and syllable production. Analysis of the learning effect over three lip force measurements showed tendencies for increased lip force at the last measure. The difference was not significant. In the present study no statistical measurements for gender differences were executed for each separate age group due to small numbers. Measurements in age group 6:0-9:11 showed tendencies for higher values of both lip force and syllable production for girls. These differences were not significant.