title: Vowel identification by cochlear implant users: contributions of static and dynamic spectral cues.
abstract: Previous research has shown that normal hearing listeners can identify vowels in syllables on the basis of either quasi-static or dynamic spectral cues; however, it is not known how well cochlear implant (CI) users with current-generation devices can make use of these cues. The present study assessed vowel identification in adult CI users and a comparison group of young normal hearing (YNH) listeners. Stimuli were naturally spoken /dVd/ syllables and modified syllables that retained only quasi-static spectral cues from an 80-ms segment of the vowel center ("C80" stimuli) or dynamic spectral cues from two 20-ms segments of the vowel edges ("E20" stimuli). YNH listeners exhibited near-perfect performance for the unmodified (99.8%) and C80 (92.9%) stimuli and maintained good performance for the E20 stimuli (70.2%). CI users exhibited poorer average performance than YNH listeners for the Full stimuli (72.3%) and proportionally larger reductions in performance for the C80 stimuli (41.8%) and E20 stimuli (29.0%). Findings suggest that CI users have difficulty identifying vowels on the basis of spectral cues in the absence of duration cues, and have limited access to brief dynamic spectral cues. Error analyses suggest that CI users may rely strongly on vowel duration cues when those cues are available.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Florida, PCD 1017, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, Florida 33620.
authors.forename: Gail S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Donaldson
authors.forename: Catherine L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: Emily S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Cardenas
authors.forename: Benjamin A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.forename: Nada H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Hanna
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001302:Audiometry, Speech; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D012048:Correction of Hearing Impairment / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013067:Speech Perception; D013997:Time Factors; D014833:Voice Quality; D055815:Young Adult