The Effect of Visual Feedback on the Voice Control Ability of Pre-lingual Deafened Young Adults with Cochlear Implants

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether there is a difference in the voice control ability between young adults with cochlear implants (CIs) and a normal hearing (NH) group. This study examined the correlation between CI-related characteristics, performance, and acoustic measurements (i.e., voice dynamic area, voice range profile slope).Methods: Participants were 12 young adults (8 females and 4 males) who had CIs before 7 years of age, and 12 NH young adults who matched their sex and age. A voice range profile (VRP) program was used to evaluate voice control ability according to the presence or absence of visual feedback.Results: The voice dynamic area (VDA) of the NH group was significantly larger than that of the CI group, and the VDA was significantly greater when the visual-auditory feedback was presented rather than relying solely on hearing. There was no significant difference between the groups in the VRP slope, but the slope was significantly smaller when the visual-auditory feedback was provided than when only the auditory feedback was provided. There was a negative correlation between the consonant accuracy and the VRP slope in the CI group.Conclusion: Congenitally deafened young adults didn’t achieve normal voice control abilities in comparison with NH. However, CIs were able to use the visual information in order to better control their voice. Additionally, the VDA is appropriate as a variable to measure the voice control ability of CIs, but the VDA and the VRP slope are complementary and need to be considered together when analyzing the results.