Use can use pg_fetch_result when getting a value (like a smallint as in this example) returned by your stored procedure
<?php
$pgConnection = pg_connect("dbname=users user=me");
$userNameToCheckFor = "metal";
$result = pg_query($pgConnection, "SELECT howManyUsersHaveThisName('$userNameToCheckFor')");
$count = pg_fetch_result($result, 0, 'howManyUsersHaveThisName');
?>