Lighterink Mackenzie, Bunta Ferenc, Gifford René H, Camarata Stephen
Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA.
Clin Linguist Phon. 2024 Dec 19:1-21. doi: 10.1080/02699206.2024.2439912.
Hearing loss is a significant risk factor for delays in the spoken language development of children. The purpose of this study was to examine the distribution of articulation errors for English consonants among children with cochlear implants (CIs) who utilise auditory-oral communication. Speech samples from 45 prelingually deafened paediatric CI users were obtained using a single-word picture elicitation task. Samples were audio recorded and transcribed in PRAAT; overall percentage consonant correct (PCC) and individual phoneme error patterns were examined. Results showed an average PCC of 76.49% and participants exhibited lower accuracy in producing several consonants that are late acquired by typically hearing and developing children. In comparison to previous studies of children with severe-to-profound hearing loss who did not use CIs, participants in this study were more accurate in their production of most fricatives and affricates. Surprisingly, some phonemes that are acquired early in typically developing populations and that have high visual salience, specifically the nasal bilabial stop, /m/, were produced with relatively lower accuracy than would be expected based on published research. In comparison to voiced and voiceless oral bilabial stops, /b/ and /p/, /m/ was subject to substantially more place of articulation errors.
听力损失是儿童口语发展延迟的一个重要风险因素。本研究的目的是调查使用听觉口语交流的人工耳蜗植入（CI）儿童中英语辅音发音错误的分布情况。通过单词图片诱发任务获取了45名语前聋儿科CI使用者的语音样本。样本进行了音频录制并在PRAAT中进行转录；检查了辅音正确的总体百分比（PCC）和各个音素的错误模式。结果显示平均PCC为76.49%，参与者在发出一些正常听力和发育儿童较晚习得的辅音时准确率较低。与之前对未使用CI的重度至极重度听力损失儿童的研究相比，本研究中的参与者在发出大多数擦音和塞擦音时准确率更高。令人惊讶的是，一些在正常发育人群中较早习得且具有高视觉显著性的音素，特别是双唇鼻音/m/，其发音准确率比基于已发表研究预期的要低。与浊音和清音双唇塞音/b/和/p/相比，/m/在发音部位上的错误要多得多。
