Center for Pre-Speech Development and Developmental Disorders, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
Comprehensive Hearing Center (CHC), Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2024;76(2):151-163. doi: 10.1159/000533288. Epub 2023 Jul 29.
Vocants as infants' first vocalic utterances are produced laryngeally while the vocal tract is maintained in a neutral position. These "primitive" sounds have sometimes been described as largely innate and, therefore, as sounding alike in both healthy and hearing-impaired young infants.
The objective of this study is to compare melody features of vocants, recorded during face-to-face interaction, between infants (N = 8) with profound congenital sensorineural hearing loss (HI group) and age-matched (N = 18) controls (CO) group. The question was as follows: does a lack of auditory feedback have a noticeable effect on melodic features of vocants?
The cooing database totalled 6,998 vocalizations (HI: N = 2,847; CO: N = 4,151), all of which had been recorded during the observation period of 60-181 days of age. Identification of the vocants (N = 1,148) was based on broadband spectrograms (KAY-CSL) and auditory impressions. Fundamental frequency (F0) analyses were performed (PRAAT) and the pattern of the F0 contour (melody) analysed using specific in-lab software (CDAP, pw-project). Generalized mixed linear models were used to perform group comparisons.
There was a clear predominance of a simple rising-falling pattern (single melody arcs) in vocants of both groups. Nonetheless, significantly more complex contours, particularly, double-arc structures, were found in vocants of the CO group. Moreover, vocants of the HI group were shorter than those uttered by the CO group, while the mean F0 did not significantly differ.
Vocants are characterized by both, innate features, found in HI and CO groups, and features that additionally require a functioning auditory system. Even at an early pre-linguistic stage, somatosensory sensations cannot compensate for a lack of auditory feedback. Vocants might be relevant in the early diagnosis of hearing disorders and assessments of the effectiveness of, or adjustments required to, hearing aids.
婴儿最初的元音发声是在声门产生的，而声道则保持在中立位置。这些“原始”声音有时被描述为主要是天生的，因此，在健康和听力受损的婴儿中听起来是相似的。
本研究的目的是比较在面对面互动过程中记录的患有严重先天性感觉神经性听力损失的婴儿（N=8）（HI 组）和年龄匹配的对照组（N=18）（CO 组）的元音旋律特征。问题如下：缺乏听觉反馈是否会对元音的旋律特征产生明显影响？
总共记录了 6998 次发声（HI：N=2847；CO：N=4151），所有发声都是在 60-181 天观察期间记录的。根据宽带声谱图（KAY-CSL）和听觉印象，对元音（N=1148）进行了识别。（PRAAT）进行了基频（F0）分析，并使用特定的实验室软件（CDAP，pw-project）分析了 F0 轮廓（旋律）的模式。使用广义混合线性模型进行组间比较。
两组的元音都明显以简单的上升-下降模式（单个旋律弧）为主。尽管如此，CO 组的元音中发现了更多复杂的轮廓，特别是双弧结构。此外，HI 组的元音比 CO 组的元音短，而平均 F0 没有显著差异。
元音的特征既有 HI 和 CO 组中发现的先天特征，也有需要正常听觉系统的特征。即使在早期的语言前阶段，躯体感觉也不能弥补听觉反馈的缺失。元音可能与听力障碍的早期诊断以及评估助听器的有效性或所需调整有关。
