scholarly journals Personality Traits of Profoundly Hearing Impaired Adolescents with Cochlear Implants – A Comparison with Normal Hearing Peers

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merle Boerrigter ◽  
Anneke Vermeulen ◽  
Henri Marres ◽  
Margreet Langereis
Author(s):  
Paris Binos

Vocants are precursors to speech and are facially neutral. The presence of these speechlike vocalizations was evident during the precursors to mature phonology called “protophones”. The prosodic feature of duration of the nuclei plays a crucial role in the shift of prelexical to mature speech, since speech intelligibility is closely related to the control of duration. The aim of this work is to determine whether cochlear implants (CIs) positively trigger language acquisition and the development of verbal skills. Recent literature findings are compared and discussed with the performance of two Greek congenitally hearing-impaired infants who were matched with three normal-hearing (NH) infants. This work highlighted an important weakness of the prosodic abilities of young infants with CIs.


Author(s):  
Elina Nirgianaki ◽  
Maria Bitzanaki

The present study investigates the acoustic characteristics of Greek vowels produced by hearing-impaired children with profound prelingual hearing loss and cochlear implants. The results revealed a significant difference between vowels produced by hearingimpaired children and those produced by normal-hearing ones in terms of duration. Stressed vowels were significantly longer than non-stressed for both groups, while F0, F1 and F2 did not differ significantly between the two groups for any vowel, with the exception of /a/, which had significantly higher F1 when produced by hearingimpaired children. Acoustic vowel spaces were similar for the two groups but shifted towards higher frequencies in the low-high dimension and somehow reduced in the front-back dimension for the hearing-impaired group.


1999 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-72
Author(s):  
Adri Ligthelm ◽  
Emily Groenewald

A review of the relevant literature indicates a lack of knowledge regarding suprasegmental speech characteristics in prelingual hearing impaired children with cochlear implants. This study is aimed at examining certain suprasegmental features in the speech of prelingual hearing impaired children with cochlear implants by perceptual ratings and acoustic analyses, comparing these results to that of prelingual hearing impaired children without implants, and normal hearing children of the same age. Twelve Afrikaans speaking children between the ages of six and ten years were included in three groups. An integrated view of the perceptual and acoustic results shows that the cochlear implanted children's suprasegmental speech characteristics bear closer resemblance to those of the normal hearing group than those of the hearing impaired group.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 986-992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa R. Park ◽  
Erika B. Gagnon ◽  
Erin Thompson ◽  
Kevin D. Brown

Purpose The aims of this study were to (a) determine a metric for describing full-time use (FTU), (b) establish whether age at FTU in children with cochlear implants (CIs) predicts language at 3 years of age better than age at surgery, and (c) describe the extent of FTU and length of time it took to establish FTU in this population. Method This retrospective analysis examined receptive and expressive language outcomes at 3 years of age for 40 children with CIs. Multiple linear regression analyses were run with age at surgery and age at FTU as predictor variables. FTU definitions included 8 hr of device use and 80% of average waking hours for a typically developing child. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the establishment and degree of FTU. Results Although 8 hr of daily wear is typically considered FTU in the literature, the 80% hearing hours percentage metric accounts for more variability in outcomes. For both receptive and expressive language, age at FTU was found to be a better predictor of outcomes than age at surgery. It took an average of 17 months for children in this cohort to establish FTU, and only 52.5% reached this milestone by the time they were 3 years old. Conclusions Children with normal hearing can access spoken language whenever they are awake, and the amount of time young children are awake increases with age. A metric that incorporates the percentage of time that children with CIs have access to sound as compared to their same-aged peers with normal hearing accounts for more variability in outcomes than using an arbitrary number of hours. Although early FTU is not possible without surgery occurring at a young age, device placement does not guarantee use and does not predict language outcomes as well as age at FTU.


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 1299-1311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Beechey ◽  
Jörg M. Buchholz ◽  
Gitte Keidser

Objectives This study investigates the hypothesis that hearing aid amplification reduces effort within conversation for both hearing aid wearers and their communication partners. Levels of effort, in the form of speech production modifications, required to maintain successful spoken communication in a range of acoustic environments are compared to earlier reported results measured in unaided conversation conditions. Design Fifteen young adult normal-hearing participants and 15 older adult hearing-impaired participants were tested in pairs. Each pair consisted of one young normal-hearing participant and one older hearing-impaired participant. Hearing-impaired participants received directional hearing aid amplification, according to their audiogram, via a master hearing aid with gain provided according to the NAL-NL2 fitting formula. Pairs of participants were required to take part in naturalistic conversations through the use of a referential communication task. Each pair took part in five conversations, each of 5-min duration. During each conversation, participants were exposed to one of five different realistic acoustic environments presented through highly open headphones. The ordering of acoustic environments across experimental blocks was pseudorandomized. Resulting recordings of conversational speech were analyzed to determine the magnitude of speech modifications, in terms of vocal level and spectrum, produced by normal-hearing talkers as a function of both acoustic environment and the degree of high-frequency average hearing impairment of their conversation partner. Results The magnitude of spectral modifications of speech produced by normal-hearing talkers during conversations with aided hearing-impaired interlocutors was smaller than the speech modifications observed during conversations between the same pairs of participants in the absence of hearing aid amplification. Conclusions The provision of hearing aid amplification reduces the effort required to maintain communication in adverse conditions. This reduction in effort provides benefit to hearing-impaired individuals and also to the conversation partners of hearing-impaired individuals. By considering the impact of amplification on both sides of dyadic conversations, this approach contributes to an increased understanding of the likely impact of hearing impairment on everyday communication.


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