Effect of the loss of auditory feedback on segmental parameters of vowels of postlingually deafened speakers.
OBJECTIVE
The most obvious and best documented changes in speech of postlingually deafened speakers are the rate, fundamental frequency, and volume (energy). These changes are due to the lack of auditory feedback. But auditory feedback affects not only the suprasegmental parameters of speech. The aim of this study was to determine the change at the segmental level of speech in terms of vowel formants.


METHODS
Twenty-three postlingually deafened and 18 normally hearing speakers were recorded reading a German text. The frequencies of the first and second formants and the vowel spaces of selected vowels in word-in-context condition were compared.


RESULTS
All first formant frequencies (F1) of the postlingually deafened speakers were significantly different from those of the normally hearing people. The values of F1 were higher for the vowels /e/ (418+/-61 Hz compared with 359+/-52 Hz, P=0.006) and /o/ (459+/-58 compared with 390+/-45 Hz, P=0.0003) and lower for /a/ (765+/-115 Hz compared with 851+/-146 Hz, P=0.038). The second formant frequency (F2) only showed a significant increase for the vowel/e/(2016+/-347 Hz compared with 2279+/-250 Hz, P=0.012). The postlingually deafened people were divided into two subgroups according to duration of deafness (shorter/longer than 10 years of deafness). There was no significant difference in formant changes between the two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Our report demonstrated an effect of auditory feedback also on segmental features of speech of postlingually deafened people.
Schenk
Barbara S
BS
ENT Department, University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090, Vienna, Austria.
Baumgartner
Wolf Dieter
WD
Hamzavi
Jafar Sasan
JS
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001184:Articulation Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005246:Feedback / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D013637:Tape Recording; D014705:Verbal Behavior