Abstract
Lack of proper auditory feedback in hearing-impaired subjects results in functional voice disorder. It is directly related to discoordination of intrinsic and extrinsic laryngeal muscles and disturbed contraction and relaxation of antagonistic muscles. A total of twenty children in the age range of 5–10 years were considered for the study. They were divided into two groups: normal hearing children and hearing aid user children. Results showed a significant difference in the vital capacity, maximum sustained phonation, and fast adduction abduction rate having equal variance for normal and hearing aid user children, respectively, but no significant difference was found in the peak flow value with being statistically significant. A reduced vital capacity in hearing aid user children suggests a limited use of the lung volume for speech production. It may be inferred from the study that the hearing aid user children have poor vocal proficiency which is reflected in their voice. The use of voicing component in hearing impaired subjects is seen due to improper auditory feedback. It was found that there was a significant difference in the vital capacity, maximum sustained phonation (MSP), and fast adduction abduction rate and no significant difference in the peak flow.
Highlights
Lack of proper auditory feedback in hearing-impaired subjects results in functional voice disorder
The aerodynamic scores analysis for peak flow for normal children showed a mean value of 1.4682 litre/sec, (SD = 0.386 litre/sec) as compared to hearing aid user children, who showed a mean value of 1.202 litre/sec (SD = 0.348 litre/sec) (Table 2)
Independent t-test results showed no significant difference in the peak flow value with (t (18) = 1.618, P = 0.123) being statistically significant at 95% level of confidence (Table 3)
Summary
Lack of proper auditory feedback in hearing-impaired subjects results in functional voice disorder. Data in the literature suggest that the impairment of the voice organ is a secondary effect and results from abnormal auditory feedback and from inappropriate hearing, voice, and speech rehabilitation in early childhood, or even its cessation [1, 2]. Changes in the larynx of a prelingually hearing-impaired child and changes in his/her voice develop in the first years of life. The nature of these disorders depends on numerous conditions, including degree and type of hearing loss, duration of the hearing impairment, the moment of its occurrence, the treatment applied, and benefits obtained, as well as the effectiveness of wide-range rehabilitation and other environmental factors [5]. Differences between the vocalizations of normal-hearing and hearing-impaired infants do emerge at an early age, but the differences are seen in phonemic production rather than quantity of vocal output as suggested by Mavilya [6]
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