A preliminary study of the effects of cochlear implants on the production of sibilants.
The potential influence of auditory information in the production of /s/ and /integral of/ was explored for postlingually deafened adults with four-channel Ineraid cochlear implants. Analyses of the spectra of the sibilant sounds were compared for speech obtained prior to implant activation, after early implant use and after 6 months of use. In addition, the output of the Ineraid device (measured at each of the four electrodes) was analyzed with pre- and postactivation speech samples to explore whether the speech production changes were potentially audible to the cochlear-implant user. Results indicated that subjects who showed abnormally low or incorrect contrast between /s/ and /integral of/ preactivation, and who received significant auditory benefit from their implants were able to increase the distinctiveness of their productions of the two speech sounds.
Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
M L
ML
Matthies
M A
MA
Svirsky
H L
HL
Lane
J S
JS
Perkell
D003054:Cochlear Implants; D003638:Deafness / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006312:Hearing Loss, Bilateral / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013067:Speech Perception; D013068:Speech Production Measurement