Hearing and hearing-impaired children's acoustic–phonetic adaptations to an interlocutor with a hearing impairment

Abstract

In England, the majority of children with a hearing impairment attend mainstream schools. However, little is known about the communication strategies used by children when interacting with a peer with hearing loss. This study examined how children with normal-hearing (NH) and those with a hearing impairment (HI) adapt to the needs of a HI interlocutor, focusing on the acoustic–phonetic properties of their speech. Eighteen NH and 18 HI children between the ages of 9 and 15 years performed two problem-solving communicative tasks in pairs: one session was completed with a friend with normal hearing (NH-directed speech) and one session was done with a friend with a hearing impairment (HI-directed speech). As expected, task difficulty increased in interactions involving a HI interlocutor. HI speakers had a slower speech rate, higher speech intensity, and greater F0 range than NH speakers. However, both HI and NH participants decreased their speech rate, and increased their F0 range, mean F0 and the intensity of their speech in HI-directed speech compared to NH-directed speech. This suggests that both NH and HI children are able to adapt to the needs of their interlocutor, even though speech production is more effortful for HI children than their NH peers.