Vowel production of Mandarin-speaking hearing aid users with different types of hearing loss

Abstract

In contrast with previous research focusing on cochlear implants, this study examined the speech performance of hearing aid users with conductive (n = 11), mixed (n = 10), and sensorineural hearing loss (n = 7) and compared it with the speech of hearing control. Speech intelligibility was evaluated by computing the vowel space area defined by the Mandarin Chinese corner vowels /a, u, i/. The acoustic differences between the vowels were assessed using the Euclidean distance. The results revealed that both the conductive and mixed hearing loss groups exhibited a reduced vowel working space, but no significant difference was found between the sensorineural hearing loss and normal hearing groups. An analysis using the Euclidean distance further showed that the compression of vowel space area in conductive hearing loss can be attributed to the substantial lowering of the second formant of /i/. The differences in vowel production between groups are discussed in terms of the occlusion effect and the signal transmission media of various hearing devices.

Configuração acústico-articulatória das vogais de mulheres com nódulos vocais e vocalmente saudáveis

“…Generally, the F2s of corner vowels in cochlear implant speakers are more divergent and lower than that of normal hearing speakers, resulting in horizontally compressed vowel space (20) . Similarly, another study (29) found that the vowel space is more compressed in cochlear implant individuals compared to those of normal hearing. In both studies (20,29) , the reduction of the vowel space decreased the speech intelligibility of individuals.…”

“…Similarly, another study (29) found that the vowel space is more compressed in cochlear implant individuals compared to those of normal hearing. In both studies (20,29) , the reduction of the vowel space decreased the speech intelligibility of individuals.…”

Clinical orofacial and myofunctional manifestations in an adolescent with Noonan Syndrome: a case report

“…It is important to consider that the hearing loss present in the patient may have influenced speech production. A study evaluated the production of vowels in speakers with different hearing loss levels by comparing them with normal-hearing speakers and found a reduced articulatory working space in the group with conductive and mixed hearing losses when compared with the control group, indicating less intelligible speech 30 .…”

Feeling disabled: Vowel quality and assistive hearing devices in embodying affect

“…Recent linguistics work (Hung, Lee, & Tsai 2017) reports that the inter-speaker variation among D/HH people in Taiwan Mandarin shows /i/ varying acoustically along the dimension of anteriority, /a/ varying along the dimension of verticality, and /u/ varying the least. It is found that /i/ is the most acoustically variable among the three corner vowels across both D/HH speakers and hearing speakers (Figure 1).…”

“…It is found that /i/ is the most acoustically variable among the three corner vowels across both D/HH speakers and hearing speakers (Figure 1). This work also suggested that variability of /i/ does not seem to be a physiological product of deafness; instead, they proposed it may be due to the difference in signal conduction methods, in that people who rely on bone rather than air to conduct sounds may hear ‘distorted’ /i/ sounds that are located at lower frequencies (Hung et al 2017). Considering the style axiom, intra-speaker variation usually derives from and echoes the variation which exists between speakers (Bell 1984).…”