Hung Yu-Chen, Lee Ya-Jung, Tsai Li-Chiun
Speech and Hearing Science Research Institute, Children's Hearing Foundation, Taipei City, Taiwan.
PLoS One. 2017 Jun 2;12(6):e0178588. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178588. eCollection 2017.
In contrast with previous research focusing on cochlear implants, this study examined the speech performance of hearing aid users with conductive (n = 11), mixed (n = 10), and sensorineural hearing loss (n = 7) and compared it with the speech of hearing control. Speech intelligibility was evaluated by computing the vowel space area defined by the Mandarin Chinese corner vowels /a, u, i/. The acoustic differences between the vowels were assessed using the Euclidean distance. The results revealed that both the conductive and mixed hearing loss groups exhibited a reduced vowel working space, but no significant difference was found between the sensorineural hearing loss and normal hearing groups. An analysis using the Euclidean distance further showed that the compression of vowel space area in conductive hearing loss can be attributed to the substantial lowering of the second formant of /i/. The differences in vowel production between groups are discussed in terms of the occlusion effect and the signal transmission media of various hearing devices.
与以往聚焦于人工耳蜗的研究不同，本研究考察了传导性听力损失患者（n = 11）、混合性听力损失患者（n = 10）和感音神经性听力损失患者（n = 7）使用助听器时的言语表现，并将其与听力正常对照组的言语进行比较。通过计算由汉语普通话角元音/a、u、i/定义的元音空间面积来评估言语可懂度。使用欧几里得距离评估元音之间的声学差异。结果显示，传导性听力损失组和混合性听力损失组均表现出元音工作空间减小，但感音神经性听力损失组与听力正常组之间未发现显著差异。使用欧几里得距离进行的分析进一步表明，传导性听力损失中元音空间面积的压缩可归因于/i/的第二共振峰大幅降低。从阻塞效应和各种听力设备的信号传输介质方面讨论了各组元音发音的差异。
