denasalization

This term is primarily used in clinical speech-language pathology and theoretical phonetics. It describes a specific acoustic shift where sounds that should be nasal lose their resonance, or sounds that should be oral acquire a nasal quality due to velopharyngeal insufficiency. In a clinical setting, it often indicates a physiological failure of the soft palate to seal the nasal cavity.

Because it describes a specialized biological or linguistic process, the word is almost exclusively used in technical reports, medical diagnoses, or phonetic analyses. It is not a term used in general conversation and carries a neutral, descriptive scientific tone.