• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.67-78
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• 2016

This study examined the affective prosodic characteristics observed from the children with cochlear implant (CI, hereafter) and normal hearing (NH, hereafter) along with listener's perception on them. Speech samples were acquired from 15 normal and 15 CI children. 8 SLPs(Speech Language Pathologists) perceptually evaluated affective types using Praat's ExperimentMFC. When it comes to the acoustic results, there were statistically meaningful differences between 2 groups in affective types [joy (discriminated by intensity deviation), anger (by intensity-related variables dominantly and duration-related variables partly), and sadness (by all aspects of prosodic variables)]. CI's data are much more louder when expressing joy, louder and slower when expressing anger, and higher, louder, and slower when it comes to sadness than those of NH. The listeners showed much higher correlation when evaluating normal children than CI group(p<.001). Chi-square results revealed that listeners did not show coherence at CI's utterance, but did at those of NH's (CI(p<.01), normal(p=.48)). When CI utterances were discriminated into 3 emotional types by DA(Discriminant Analysis) using 8 acoustic variables, speed related variables such as articulation rate took primary role.

• 재활복지
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.371-382
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• 2013

Recently, the number of those who were transplanted cochlear implants increased as health insurance increases has expanded. Last six years between 2005 to 2009, patients who received a cochlear implant surgery were about 3,300 and number of cochlear implants in adults of them have shown growing aspects. In the case of young children, they actively participated auditory training program after cochlear implant surgery and the studies related to auditory training in child are many, but the studies related to auditory training in adults is insufficient. In this study, we perform the auditory training for the female adult (age 54) received cochlear implant after language acquisition used Ling 6 sounds test, standardized consonants, vowels and sentences listening test and word recognition and confirmation test. As a result after auditory training for 10 weeks, she identified all phonemes in Ling 6 sound test and performed close to 100% in standardized consonants, vowels and sentences listening tests. Also, she improved the ability of real-world environmental sound and real-world words identifications by 57-95%. The results of this study showed the need of auditory training program with systematic and effective planning and considering the characteristics of the individual for adults.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.77-86
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• 2022

This study aimed to investigate the voice onset time (VOT) of plosives in the VCV syllables by the place of articulation and phonation type spoken by children with bilateral cochlear implants (CIs) in comparison with children with typical hearing (TH). In all, 15 children with bilateral CIs and 15 children with TH participated in this study, aged between 5 to 10 years. All children produced 9 VCV syllables and their VOT were analyzed by the Praat software. There was no significant difference in mean VOT between children with bilateral CIs and children with TH. However, there was a significant difference in mean VOT by the place of articulation, such that the VOT for velars were longer than those for bilabials and alveolars. Additionally, there was a significant difference in mean VOT by the phonation type, such that the VOT of aspirated consonants were longer than those of lenis and fortis consonants. The results of this study suggest that children with bilateral CIs can distinguish the acoustic properties of plosive consonants and control the speech timing between the structures of the larynx and the oral cavity at a similar level as children with TH.

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to examine changes in the accuracy and range of produced pitch in children with cochlear implants (CI) after an interval-based singing program. A total of three children with CIs aged 5 received twelve 35-minute individual sessions two to three times per week. The interval-based singing program was composed with third, fifth, and eighth intervals and implemented pitch discrimination, pitch imitation, and singing songs with target intervals in a sequence. At pretest and posttest, the changes in accuracy of pitch production during pitch imitation and singing were measured. The results demonstrated that all participants showed improvement in pitch accuracy and produced the target notes with great similarity to the expected pitches in the original song. The range of produced pitch also increased after the program. The results indicate that sequential trials to imitate pitches in a multisensory environment to facilitate the processing of pitch information may reflect how this population perceives pitch information and assist children with CIs to improve their pitch accuracy.

• Korean Journal of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
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• v.61 no.12
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• pp.644-649
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• 2018

Background and Objectives The objective of this study was to examine the effect of early cochlear implantation (CI) performed in infants less than 12 months of age. Subjects and Method Twenty-five children who received their first CI before 12 months of age were included in this study (infant group). The speech perception and language outcomes of these children were compared with those of 14 children who received their first CI between 13 and 24 months of age (older group). All children received sequential bilateral CI with the inter-stage interval of less than 2 years. Speech perception was measured using Categories of Auditory Performance, monosyllabic word test and sentence test, and language ability was measured using Sequenced Language Scale for Infants, Preschool Receptive-Expressive Language Scale, or Receptive & Expressive Vocavulary Test, depending on the age at the time of testing. Results There were no significant differences in speech perception abilities between the infant group and the older group. The mean expressive language score of infant group was higher than that of the older group, but the difference was not statistically significant. However, the receptive language score of infant group was significantly higher than that of the older group. Conclusion Children who received CI before 12 months of age achieved better receptive language ability than those who received it after 12 months of age. Thus CI should be performed as early as before 12 months of age to achieve better language ability.

• Korean Journal of Audiology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.71-78
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• 2020

Background and Objectives: Currently limited information is available on speech stimuli processing at the subcortical level in the recipients of cochlear implant (CI). Speech processing in the brainstem level is measured using speech-auditory brainstem response (S-ABR). The purpose of the present study was to measure the S-ABR components in the sound-field presentation in CI recipients, and compare with normal hearing (NH) children. Subjects and Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, participants were divided in two groups: patients with CIs; and NH group. The CI group consisted of 20 prelingual hearing impairment children (mean age=8.90±0.79 years), with ipsilateral CIs (right side). The control group consisted of 20 healthy NH children, with comparable age and sex distribution. The S-ABR was evoked by the 40-ms synthesized /da/ syllable stimulus that was indicated in the sound-field presentation. Results: Sound-field S-ABR measured in the CI recipients indicated statistically significant delayed latencies, than in the NH group. In addition, these results demonstrated that the frequency following response peak amplitude was significantly higher in CI recipients, than in the NH counterparts (p<0.05). Finally, the neural phase locking were significantly lower in CI recipients (p<0.05). Conclusions: The findings of sound-field S-ABR demonstrated that CI recipients have neural encoding deficits in temporal and spectral domains at the brainstem level; therefore, the sound-field S-ABR can be considered an efficient clinical procedure to assess the speech process in CI recipients.

• Journal of Audiology & Otology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.71-78
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• 2020

Background and Objectives: Currently limited information is available on speech stimuli processing at the subcortical level in the recipients of cochlear implant (CI). Speech processing in the brainstem level is measured using speech-auditory brainstem response (S-ABR). The purpose of the present study was to measure the S-ABR components in the sound-field presentation in CI recipients, and compare with normal hearing (NH) children. Subjects and Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, participants were divided in two groups: patients with CIs; and NH group. The CI group consisted of 20 prelingual hearing impairment children (mean age=8.90±0.79 years), with ipsilateral CIs (right side). The control group consisted of 20 healthy NH children, with comparable age and sex distribution. The S-ABR was evoked by the 40-ms synthesized /da/ syllable stimulus that was indicated in the sound-field presentation. Results: Sound-field S-ABR measured in the CI recipients indicated statistically significant delayed latencies, than in the NH group. In addition, these results demonstrated that the frequency following response peak amplitude was significantly higher in CI recipients, than in the NH counterparts (p<0.05). Finally, the neural phase locking were significantly lower in CI recipients (p<0.05). Conclusions: The findings of sound-field S-ABR demonstrated that CI recipients have neural encoding deficits in temporal and spectral domains at the brainstem level; therefore, the sound-field S-ABR can be considered an efficient clinical procedure to assess the speech process in CI recipients.

• Clinical and Experimental Otorhinolaryngology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.250-258
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• 2018

Objectives. To compare narrative skills between fourth and fifth grades of Persian-speaking students with hearing impairments and typical hearing students of the same grade and also to evaluate the effects of group, sex, hearing age, and educational grade of the students on their spoken/written narrative performance. Methods. The subjects were 174 students aged 10-13 years, 54 of whom wore cochlear implants, 60 suffered from moderate to severe hearing losses and wore hearing aids, with the remaining 60 students being typical hearing in terms of the sense of hearing. The micro- and macrostructure components of spoken and written narrative were elicited from a pictorial story (The Playful Little Elephant) and then scored by raters. Results. Compared to the typical hearing, the students with hearing impairments had significantly lower scores in all of the microstructure components of narratives. However, the findings showed no significant difference among different groups in macrostructure components of narratives. It was also revealed that the students had equal performance in spoken and written narrative. Finally, factor analysis manifested that group, sex, hearing age, and educational level of children might alter the outcome measures in various interactions. Conclusion. Although cochlear implantation was more effective than hearing aid on spoken and written narrative skills, the Persian-speaking students with hearing impairments were seen to need additional trainings on microstructure components of spoken/written narrative.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.157-165
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• 2011

This study investigated speech rate and intonation slope (least square method; F0, quarter-tone) in normal and CI children's utterances. Each group consisted of 12 people and were divided into groups of children with CI operation (before 3;00), children with CI operation (after 3;00), and normal children. Materials are composed of four kinds of grammatical dialogue sentences which are lacking in respect. Given three groups as independent variables and both speech rate and intonation slope as dependent variables, a one-way ANOVA showed that normal children had faster speech rates and steeper intonation slopes than those of the CI group. More specifically, there was a statistically significant speech rate difference between normal and CI children in all of the sentential patterns but imperative form (p<.01). Additionally, F0 and qtone slope observed in sentential final word showed a significant statistical difference between normal and CI children in imperative form (f0: p<.01; q-tone: p<.05).

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.47-64
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• 2011

This study was to examine music preferences of school-aged cochlear implant(CI) recipients in comparison with normal hearing(NH) children. Participants were 12 CI recipients and 155 NH children. CI children were recruited from a hospital in Seoul and they had cochlear implants for longer than two years(M = 4.7). NH children were randomly sampled. All participants were asked to respond to a questionnaire and rate their music preferences. The results showed that while 58.33% of CI recipients preferred child voices, 71.61% of NH children preferred adult voices. For preferred frequency range, both of CI and NH groups preferred higher frequency. With regard to preferred musical styles, while CI children gave the highest rating(M = 3.58) to Korean folk songs on the 5-point Likert scale, popular music and TV and soundtrack music were found to be the highest-rated styles(M = 3.83) for NH children. These results indicate that self-rated music preferences of CI recipients may be affected by a musical environment that these children have experienced. The results also implies that the provision of appropriate musical input and experiences would significantly affect future music preferences and appreciation of CI children. Providing useful information about music preferences of CI recipients in comparison with NH children, this study has significant implications for further studies on this population.