Lehnert-LeHouillier Heike, Spencer Linda J, Machmer Elizabeth L, Burchell Kristy L
Department of Communication Disorders, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces.
Department of Speech-Language Pathology, Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions, Provo, UT.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2019 Feb 26;62(2):257-271. doi: 10.1044/2018_JSLHR-S-17-0468.
Purpose The purpose of this observational study was to investigate the properties of sentence-final prosody in yes/no questions produced by cochlear implant (CI) users in order to determine whether and how the age at CI implantation impacts CI users' production of question intonation later in life. Method We acoustically analyzed recordings from 46 young adult CI users and 10 young adults with normal hearing who read yes/no questions. Of the 46 CI users, 20 had received their CI before the age of 4.0 years (early implantation group), 15 between ages 4.0 and 8.11 years (midimplantation group), and 11 at the age of 9.0 years or later (late implantation group). We assessed the prosodic properties of the produced questions for each implantation group and the normal hearing comparison group (a) by measuring the sentence-final rise in fundamental frequency, (b) by labeling the question-final intonation contour using the Tones and Breaks Index ( Beckman & Ayers, 1994 ; Silverman, Beckman, et al., 1992 ; Veilleux, Shattuck-Hufnagel, & Brugos, 2006 ), and (c) by assessing phrase-final lengthening. Results The fundamental frequency rises produced by all CI users exhibited a smaller magnitude than those produced by the normal hearing comparison group, although the difference between early implanted CI users and the normal hearing group did not reach statistical significance. Early implanted CI users were more comparable in their use of question-final intonation contours to the individuals with typical hearing than to those users with CI implanted later in life. All CI users exhibited significantly less phrase-final lengthening than the normal hearing comparison group, regardless of age at CI implantation. Conclusion The results of this investigation of question intonation produced by CI users suggest that those CI users who were implanted with CI earlier in life produce yes/no question intonation in a manner that is more similar to, albeit not the same as, individuals with normal hearing when compared to the productions of those users with CI implanted after 4.0 years of age.
目的 本观察性研究旨在调查人工耳蜗（CI）使用者在是非问句中句末韵律的特性，以确定人工耳蜗植入年龄是否以及如何影响CI使用者日后的疑问语调产生。方法 我们对46名年轻成年CI使用者和10名听力正常的年轻成年人朗读是非问句的录音进行了声学分析。在46名CI使用者中，20人在4.0岁之前接受了CI植入（早期植入组），15人在4.0至8.11岁之间接受植入（中期植入组），11人在9.0岁及以后接受植入（晚期植入组）。我们通过以下方式评估每个植入组和听力正常对照组所产生问题的韵律特性：（a）测量基频的句末上升；（b）使用声调与停顿指数（Beckman & Ayers，1994；Silverman，Beckman等人，1992；Veilleux，Shattuck-Hufnagel，& Brugos，2006）标记疑问句句末语调轮廓；（c）评估短语末延长。结果 所有CI使用者产生的基频上升幅度均小于听力正常对照组，尽管早期植入CI的使用者与听力正常组之间的差异未达到统计学显著性。早期植入CI的使用者在使用疑问句句末语调轮廓方面，与听力正常个体相比，比那些后期植入CI的使用者更具可比性。所有CI使用者，无论人工耳蜗植入年龄如何，其短语末延长均显著少于听力正常对照组。结论 这项对CI使用者疑问语调的调查结果表明，与4.0岁以后植入CI的使用者相比，那些在生命早期植入CI的使用者产生是非问句语调的方式与听力正常个体更为相似，尽管并不完全相同。
