Effects of Non-sense Syllable Recognition Scores as a Function of Consonant-to-Vowel Ratios for Korean Child Wearing Cochlear Implant.

Abstract

Children with cochlear implants (CI) have more difficulty in recognizing fricative and affricative sounds than children with normal hearing in a quiet or noisy environments. This study was to examine syllabic recognition scores of CI users by presenting sounds /tʓha/, /kha/, /tha/, /pha/ at the 0, 6 and 12 dB consonant-to-vowel ratios (CVRs) in no masking conditions. This study was to help understand the characteristics of non-sense consonant-vowel (CV) syllabic recognition for Korean children with CIs and facilitate hearing-rehabilitation for them. Eleven children with CIs, aged between 6.9 years and 11.0 years (Mean age : 8.3 years) participated as subjects. Each consonant was amplified with 0, 6 and 12 dB from four Korean CV syllables which consisted of combined consonants /tʓh/, /kh/, /th/, /ph/ with a vowel /a/. As a result, in recognition scores of /tha/ and /pha/, there were no significant differences identified with the increased CVRs. However, in overall, the recognition of non-sense CV syllables were improved when CVRs increased to +6 dB (p < .05). Furthermore, there were no significant differences in recognition scores among /tʓha/, /kha/, /tha/, /pha/ as a function of CVRs. The CV syllable recognition scores showed an improvement with a CVR increase for Korean CI children. Further research will conduct on the CVR effects in a noisy condition by various groups in the future. It is suggested that CI manufacturers strive to develop new speech processing strategies to help CI users for effective communication.