Tone production and perception and intelligibility of produced speech in Mandarin-speaking cochlear implanted children

Objective: This study explored tone production, tone perception and intelligibility of produced speech in Mandarin-speaking prelingually deaf children with at least 5 years of cochlear implant (CI) experience. Another focus was on the predictive value of tone perception and tone production as they relate to speech intelligibility. Design: Cross-sectional research. Study sample: Thirty-three prelingually deafened children aged over eight years with over five years of experience with CI underwent tests for tone perception, tone production, and the Speech Intelligibility Rating (SIR). A Pearson correlation and a stepwise regression analysis were used to estimate the correlations among tone perception, tone production, and SIR scores. Results: The mean scores for tone perception, tone production, and SIR were 76.88%, 90.08%, and 4.08, respectively. Moderately positive Pearson correlations were found between tone perception and production, tone production and SIR, and tone perception and SIR (p?p?p?p?Conclusions: Mandarin-speaking cochlear-implanted children with sufficient duration of CI use produce intelligent speech. Speech intelligibility can be predicted by tone production performance.     

Auditory and speech performance in cochlear implanted ANSD children

Background: Auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) is a distinct type of SNHL that is characterized by the presence of otoacoustic emissions and/or cochlear microphonics. Cochlear implantation was initially not recommended for ANSD children, later studies showed variable outcomes among those subjects.

Objective: To assess the auditory and speech performance of cochlear implanted children with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) and to compare these results to those obtained from cochlear implanted children with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL)

Material and methods: 18 cochlear implanted children with ANSD and 40 cochlear implanted children with SNHL were included in this study. Auditory and speech performance results were compared across both subject groups using the Category of Auditory Performance (CAP) and Speech Intelligibility Rate (SIR) tests, with measurements recorded one year post implantation.

Results: Cochlear implanted children with ANSD showed clinically significant improvements that were comparable to those observed from cochlear implanted subjects without ANSD.

Conclusions: Children with ANSD benefit from early cochlear implantation and can reach similar auditory and speech performance results as that achieved by children without ANSD.     

构音干预对人工耳蜗植入儿童言语清晰度的影响

目的考查构音干预对人工耳蜗植入儿童言语清晰度的影响。方法选取17名人工耳蜗植入儿童进行研究,实验组11名聋儿接受构音干预。对照组6名聋儿不接受干预,对两组儿童实验前后言语清晰度的变化情况进行比较。结果实验组聋儿言语清晰度提高速度快,平均增幅约为30％;对照组聋儿言语清晰度提高速度相对较慢。结论针对性构音干预对提高人工耳蜗儿童声母、韵母、声调的清晰度有着积极的影响。     

Speech production intelligibility of early implanted pediatric cochlear implant users

Objectives

To investigate the influence of age, and age-at-implantation, on speech production intelligibility in prelingually deaf pediatric cochlear implant recipients.

Methods

Forty prelingually, profoundly deaf children who received cochlear implants between 8 and 40 months of age. Their age at testing ranged between 2.5 and 18 years. Children were recorded repeating the 10 sentences in the Beginner's Intelligibility Test. These recordings were played back to normal-hearing listeners who were unfamiliar with deaf speech and who were instructed to write down what they heard. They also rated each subject for the intelligibility of their speech production on a 5-point rating-scale. The main outcome measures were the percentage of target words correctly transcribed, and the intelligibility ratings, in both cases averaged across 3 normal-hearing listeners.

Results

The data showed a strong effect of age at testing, with older children being more intelligible. This effect was particularly pronounced for children implanted in the first 24 months of life, all of whom had speech production intelligibility scores of 80% or higher when they were tested at age 5.5 years or older. This was true for only 5 out of 9 children implanted at age 25-36 months.

Conclusions

Profoundly deaf children who receive cochlear implants in the first 2 years of life produce highly intelligible speech before the age of 6. This is also true for most, but not all children implanted in their third year.     

语后聋患者人工耳蜗植入后听觉行为及言语可懂度分级的相关因素分析

目的：应用听觉行为分级（CAP）和言语可懂度分级（SIR）评估语后聋患者人工耳蜗植入后言语交流状况,探讨其得分与听力下降时间、植入时间、术前助听器使用情况的关系。方法：回顾分析23例语后聋人工耳蜗植入者的临床资料,收集其听力下降时间、植入时间、术前助听器使用情况等相关资料,应用CAP、SIR分级评估其言语交流状况。运用IBM SPSS Statistics19软件进行统计描述及结果分析。结果：CAP分级平均得分为6．13分,统计分析示CAP分级与听力下降时间、植入时间、术前助听器使用时间无显著相关关系（均P〉0．05）。患者均为语后聋,其SIR分级的平均得分为4．91分。结论：语后聋患者人工耳蜗植入后CAP分级与听力下降时间、植入时间、术前助听器使用情况无相关性。这可能是由于CAP分级的精确性和细节上的欠缺或该研究样本量限制,未显示出其与3个变量之间的关系。SIR不适用于评估语后聋患者人工耳蜗植人后的言语状况。     

语速和耳语对人工耳蜗植入者言语识别效果的影响

目的研究不同语速和耳语式的言语是否会影响人工耳蜗植入者的言语识别效果。方法在本研究中,分别对一组人工耳蜗植入者和一组听力正常者进行以下4种不同说话方式的言语识别率测试：慢速言语、常速言语、快速言语和耳语。测试时,人工耳蜗植入者聆听由扬声器播放的未经处理的言语声,正常受试者聆听经4通道人工耳蜗处理的言语声,二者使用相同的原始测试材料。结果人工耳蜗植入组与正常对照组对4种不同说话方式的言语识别结果相似,当说话语速增加时言语识别率逐渐下降,耳语的识别率最差,对于人工耳蜗植入者来说快速言语的识别率显著低于慢速言语识别率。结论人工耳蜗植入者言语识别效果会随着所聆听言语的语速增加而降低,并且聆听耳语式的言语对人工耳蜗植入者来说是非常困难的。     

Prior exposure to a reverberant listening environment improves speech intelligibility in adult cochlear implant listeners

Objectives: The goal of this study is to investigate whether prior exposure to reverberant listening environment improves speech intelligibility of adult cochlear implant (CI) users.

Methods: Six adult CI users participated in this study. Speech intelligibility was measured in five different simulated reverberant listening environments with two different speech corpuses. Within each listening environment, prior exposure was varied by either having the same environment across all trials (blocked presentation) or having different environment from trial to trial (unblocked).

Results: Speech intelligibility decreased as reverberation time increased. Although substantial individual variability was observed, all CI listeners showed an increase in the blocked presentation condition as compared to the unblocked presentation condition for both speech corpuses.

Conclusion: Prior listening exposure to a reverberant listening environment improves speech intelligibility in adult CI listeners. Further research is required to understand the underlying mechanism of adaptation to listening environment.     

Academic achievements and classroom performance in Mandarin-speaking prelingually deafened school children with cochlear implants

Objectives

To document academic achievements and classroom performance in 35 Mandarin-speaking, congenital/pre-lingual, deafened children who used cochlear implants (CIs) for 5–11 years. The possible associated factors were also analyzed.

Study design

Cross-sectional case series.

Methods

Standardized Chinese literacy ability and mathematics tests were administered to evaluate the academic achievement of these children. Raw scores derived from both literacy ability and mathematics tests were compared with normative data from children with normal hearing (NH). A modified Mandarin edition of the Screening Instrument for Targeting Educational Risk (SIFTER) and a Regular School Adjustment Scale (RSAS) for students with hearing impairments filled out by regular classroom teachers were used to assess the children's classroom performances.

Results

The mean standard T-scores for Chinese literacy ability and mathematics ability were 48.6 and 50.3 (NORM = 50 ± 10), respectively. A total of 85.7% of children with CIs scored within or above the normal range of their age-matched hearing peers in Chinese literacy ability, and 82.9% were within normal ranges in mathematics ability. The SIFTER results showed that 45.7% failure was noted on the communication subscale, and the RSAS also indicated 40% of CI students to have communication problems. The academic subscale scores on the SIFTER were associated with the children's Chinese literacy abilities. The Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI) of the Wechsler IQ test IV was related to the children's mathematics abilities.

Conclusions

The academic achievements of Mandarin-speaking children who receive CIs from a young age and are integrated into mainstream elementary school system appear to fall within the normal range of their age-matched hearing counterparts after 5–11 years of use. This study strongly suggests the need for future ongoing support for these children in communication field.     

Development of a Danish speech intelligibility test

A Danish speech intelligibility test for assessing the speech recognition threshold in noise (SRT_N) has been developed. The test consists of 180 sentences distributed in 18 phonetically balanced lists. The sentences are based on an open word-set and represent everyday language. The sentences were equalized with respect to intelligibility to ensure uniform SRT_N assessments with all lists. In contrast to several previously developed tests such as the hearing in noise test (HINT) where the equalization is based on scored (objective) measures of word intelligibility, the present test used an equalization method based on subjective assessments of the sentences. The new equalization method is shown to create lists with less variance between the SRT_Ns than the traditional method. The number of sentence levels included in the SRT_N calculation was also evaluated and differs from previous tests. The test was verified with 14 normal-hearing listeners; the overall SRT_N lies at a signal-to-noise ratio of ?3.15 dB with a standard deviation of 1.0 dB. The list-SRT_Ns deviate less than 0.5 dB from the overall mean.     

中度和重度聋儿助听后早期听觉能力及言语可懂度发育

目的：评价耳聋儿童助听后1年内听觉及言语能力发展变化趋势,探讨耳聋程度对聋儿的听觉及言语发育水平的影响,为聋儿的有效康复提供临床参考资料。方法：患儿29例,男19例,女10例。助听器选配年龄3～8岁,平均5．6岁。根据听力损失程度将患儿分为中度听力损失组（14例）和重度听力损失组（15例）。分别使用听觉行为分级（CAP）和言语可懂度分级（SIR）问卷在助听前及助听后1、3、6、9、12个月时对患儿的听觉能力及言语可懂度发育情况进行评估。结果：经单因素方差分析,中度和重度聋患儿CAP平均得分在助听前差异有统计学意义（P〉0．05）。在助听后1、3、6、9、12个月均差异无统计学意义（P〉0．05）。同样中度和重度聋患儿SIR平均得分在助听前差异有统计学意义（P〈0．05）。在助听后1、3、6、9、12个月均差异无统计学意义（P〉0．05）。中度聋患儿cAP平均得分助听前与助听后6、9、12个月差异有统计学意义（P〈0．05）。中度聋患儿SIR平均得分助听前与助听后6、9、12个月差异有统计学意义（P〈0．05）;助听后1个月与12个月差异有统计学意义（P〈0．05）。重度聋患儿CAP平均得分助听前与助听后3、6、9、12个月差异有统计学意义（P〈0．05）,助听后1个月与9、12个月差异有统计学意义（P〈0．05）。重度聋患儿SIR平均得分助听前与助听后3、6、9、12个月差异有统计学意义（P〈0．05）,助听后1个月与6、9、12个月差异有统计学意义（P〈0．05）。结论：中度和重度聋组患儿助听后1年内早期听觉及言语能力有显著提高,但各自有不同的发育特点和规律。     

Relationship between speech motor control and speech intelligibility in children with speech sound disorders

The current study was undertaken to investigate the impact of speech motor issues on the speech intelligibility of children with moderate to severe speech sound disorders (SSD) within the context of the PROMPT intervention approach. The word-level Children's Speech Intelligibility Measure (CSIM), the sentence-level Beginner's Intelligibility Test (BIT) and tests of speech motor control and articulation proficiency were administered to 12 children (3:11 to 6:7 years) before and after PROMPT therapy. PROMPT treatment was provided for 45 min twice a week for 8 weeks. Twenty-four naïve adult listeners aged 22–46 years judged the intelligibility of the words and sentences. For CSIM, each time a recorded word was played to the listeners they were asked to look at a list of 12 words (multiple-choice format) and circle the word while for BIT sentences, the listeners were asked to write down everything they heard. Words correctly circled (CSIM) or transcribed (BIT) were averaged across three naïve judges to calculate percentage speech intelligibility. Speech intelligibility at both the word and sentence level was significantly correlated with speech motor control, but not articulatory proficiency. Further, the severity of speech motor planning and sequencing issues may potentially be a limiting factor in connected speech intelligibility and highlights the need to target these issues early and directly in treatment.     

语前聋儿童人工耳蜗植入后听觉言语能力评估

目的：评估语前聋儿童人工耳蜗植入术后听觉言语能力的发展规律及其影响因素。方法对107例语前聋儿童人工耳蜗植入术后,应用婴幼儿有意义听觉整合量表（infant－toddler meaningful auditory integration scale／meaningful auditory integration scale ,IT －MAIS／MAIS）、听觉行为分级（categories of auditory performance , CAP）和言语可懂度分级（speech intelligibility rating ,SIR）三种问卷评估其听觉言发展水平,分析植入时间、植入年龄、实际年龄、术前助听器使用情况等对其的影响。结果107例语前聋儿童的植入年龄、植入时间对IT －M AIS／MAIS得分率有显著影响,植入时间、实际年龄对CAP、SIR分级有显著影响（P值均＜0．05）,而术前是否佩戴助听器对IT －MAIS／MAIS得分率、CAP、SIR分级均无显著影响（均为 P＞0．05）。结论植入年龄、植入时间、实际年龄对语前聋儿童人工耳蜗植入后的听觉言语能力发展有显著影响,而术前是否佩戴助听器对其听觉言语能力的影响有待后续研究证实。     

人工耳蜗植入术后听力及言语康复效果相关因素的初步研究

目的 通过对55例人工耳蜗植入患儿的听力及言语能力进行评估,分析各种可能因素在人工耳蜗植入术后听力及言语康复过程中的作用。方法 通过问卷调查的方式对人工耳蜗植入患者的各项可能影响因素进行统计,并根据听觉行为分级标准（CAP）和言语可懂度分级标准（SIR）对患儿的听力及言语能力进行评估。使用卡方检验对影响术后康复效果的相关因素进行单因素分析;最后将从单因素分析中筛选出来的听觉及言语康复效果的影响因素进行logistic回归分析。结果 logistic回归结果显示植入后时间及家庭经济状况与CAP显著相关,植入后时间、居住地、术后康复模式与SIR显著相关。结论 人工耳蜗植入术后时间、经济因素是影响人工耳蜗植入术后患儿康复效果的重要因素。     

Early prelingual auditory development and speech perception at 1-year follow-up in Mandarin-speaking children after cochlear implantation

Objective

The primary purpose of the current study was to evaluate early prelingual auditory development (EPLAD) and early speech perception longitudinally over the first year after cochlear implantation in Mandarin-speaking pediatric cochlear implant (CI) recipients. Outcome measures were designed to allow comparisons of outcomes with those of English-speaking pediatric CI recipients reported in previous research.

Method

A hierarchical outcome assessment battery designed to measure EPLAD and early speech perception was used to evaluate 39 pediatric CI recipients implanted between the ages of 1 and 6 years at baseline and 3, 6, and 12 months after implantation. The battery consists of the Mandarin Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (ITMAIS), the Mandarin Early Speech Perception (MESP) test, and the Mandarin Pediatric Speech Intelligibility (MPSI) test. The effects of age at implantation, duration of pre-implant hearing aid use, and Mandarin dialect exposure on performance were evaluated. EPLAD results were compared with the normal developmental trajectory and with results for English-speaking pediatric CI recipients. MESP and MPSI measures of early speech perception were compared with results for English-speaking recipients obtained with comparable measures.

Results

EPLAD, as measured with the ITMAIS/MAIS, was comparable in Mandarin- and English-speaking pediatric CI recipients. Both groups exceeded the normal developmental trajectory when hearing age in CI recipients and chronological age in normal were equated. Evidence of significant EPLAD during pre-implant hearing aid use was observed; although at a more gradual rate than after implantation. Early development of speech perception, as measures with the MESP and MPSI tests, was also comparable for Mandarin- and English-speaking CI recipients throughout the first 12 months after implantation. Both Mandarin dialect exposure and the duration of pre-implant hearing aid use significantly affected measures of early speech perception during this time period.

Conclusions

EPLAD and early speech perception exhibited similar patterns of improvement during the first 12 months after early cochlear implantation. The duration of pre-implant hearing aid use had a significant positive effect on both categories of outcome measures. Consistent post-implant EPLAD trajectories and early speech perception results provide objective evidence that can guide best practices in early intervention protocols.     

Early cochlear implantation: Verbal working memory,vocabulary, speech intelligibility and participant variables

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare performance in the areas of verbal working memory (VWM), vocabulary skills, and speech intelligibility between children with cochlear implants (CIs) and children with typical development (TD). The correlations between participant variables and the scores of children with CIs in VWM and the measures of language were examined. Also, it was important to identify which variables predict VWM in children with CIs.

Methods: A total of 59 children participated in this study with the study group being comprised of 31 children who had received a CI and the control group being comprised of 28 children with TD. The assessment techniques utilized in this study were the backward digit span (BDS), non-word repetition, speech intelligibility, and vocabulary skills.

Results: The study results revealed significant differences in the non-word repetition, speech intelligibility, and vocabulary tasks. The results all favored the typically developing children while the findings for the BDS were equal for both groups.

Discussion: In children with CIs the results for VWM observed in this study are believed to be related to the modality of assessment presentation, prior vocabulary knowledge, and familiarity with the presented material. The results from this study also revealed that the variables which predicted VWM in children with CIs were speech perception, duration of CI use, and vocabulary knowledge.     

Evaluating recommended audiometric changes to candidacy using the speech intelligibility index

Introduction: The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has derived candidacy guidelines for cochlear implants in the UK based on audiometric thresholds (90 dB HL or above at 2 and 4 kHz; hereafter referred to as the 90 dB HL criteria). Recent research has proposed that these criteria should be changed to 80 dB HL at 2 and 4 kHz (hereafter referred to as the 80 dB HL criteria) in the ear to be implanted.

Methods: In this study, we analysed aided SII scores derived for different hearing loss profiles falling within the current 90 dB HL criteria and equivalent profiles falling within the new 80 dB HL criteria.

Results: The aided SII scores demonstrated that the majority of potential hearing configurations falling within the new proposed 80 dB HL criteria have aided SII values of less than 0.65 (a recommended cut-off point below which there is not sufficient audibility to receive adequate benefit through hearing aids).

Conclusions: This supports the proposed change to the 80 dB HL criterion level and also highlights the additional value of the SII score in supporting candidacy decisions for CI, especially for borderline candidates.     

植入年龄对婴幼儿人工耳蜗植入患者早期言语可懂度的影响

目的本研究评估使用人工耳蜗的婴幼儿患者早期言语可懂度发育并探讨植入年龄对言语可懂度的影响,为患儿的听力言语康复提供指导。方法共有272例极重度语前聋人工耳蜗植入婴幼儿参加本次研究。手术年龄9～36个月,平均（21±7）个月。根据植入年龄将患儿分为3个组：A组小于18个月,B组为19～24个月,C组为25～36个月。使用言语可懂度分级（speech intelligibility rating,SIR）问卷在术前及术后开机后1、3、6、9个月和1年时对患儿进行评估。结果患儿SIR平均得分在术前、术后开机后1、3、6、9个月和1年之间的差异有显著性。3个组患儿SIR平均得分在术后开机后3个月、6个月之间的差异有显著性,在术前、术后开机后1个月、9个月、1年之间的差异无显著性。结论极重度语前聋人工耳蜗植入婴幼儿患者的言语可懂度在术后1年内有显著提高。植入年龄对婴幼儿人工耳蜗患者术后早期言语可懂度发育没有显著影响。