title: Phoneme recognition and confusions with multichannel cochlear implants: vowels.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate how postlingually severely or profoundly hearing-impaired adults relearn to recognize vowels after receiving multichannel cochlear implants. Vowel recognition of 19 Finnish-speaking subjects was studied for a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 24 months using an open-set nonsense-syllable test in a prospective repeated-measure design. The responses were coded for phoneme errors, and 95% confidence intervals for recognition and confusions were calculated. The average vowel recognition was 68% (95% confidence interval = 66-70%) 6 months after switch-on and 80% (95% confidence interval = 78-82%) 24 months after switch-on. The vowels [ae], [u], [i], [o], and [a] were the easiest to recognize, and the vowels [y], [e], and [ø] were the most difficult. In conclusion, adaptation to electrical hearing using a multichannel cochlear implant was achieved well; but for at least 2 years, given two vowels with either F1 or F2 at roughly the some frequencies, confusions were drawn more towards the closest vowel with the next highest F1 or F2.
authors.affiliation: Department of Finnish, Saami and Logopedics University of Oulu. taina.valimaa@oulu.fi
authors.forename: Taina T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Välimaa
authors.forename: Taisto K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Määttä
authors.forename: Heikki J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Löppönen
authors.forename: Martti J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Sorri
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D003638:Deafness / Q000628:therapy*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010700:Phonetics; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013067:Speech Perception