CleftScreen: AI-Powered Speech Screening for Cleft Palate

CleftScreen is a mobile app-based AI tool designed to address the critical need for timely speech evaluation in children with cleft lip- palate, a common birth difference affecting 1 in 600 live births in the USA. A cleft palate, a split in the roof of the mouth, disrupts normal airflow and causes hypernasal speech, which is stigmatizing and difficult to understand. While surgery around the first year of life aims to restore normal speech, in the reported literature 20%-40% of repaired palates may not keep pace with growth, leading to delayed presentation of hypernasal speech and communication challenges. Revision surgery works very well if done early, but early detection is limited by a shortage of cleft-specialist speech-language pathologists (SLPs), particularly in disadvantaged areas. Many children miss critical follow-ups with ACPA-recognized cleft teams due to distance or lack of resources, delaying necessary intervention. CleftScreen seeks to bridge this gap by using AI to screen children remotely, identifying those who may benefit from specialized speech services or surgical revision before speech problems become permanent. This scalable solution has the potential to expand across multiple languages and other speech pathologies in the future.