Related Experiment Videos
Nonword imitation by children with cochlear implants: consonant analyses
Caitlin Dillon1, David B Pisoni, Miranda Cleary
1Indiana University, Bloomington, USA. cmdillon@indiana.edu
Archives of Otolaryngology--Head & Neck Surgery
|May 19, 2004
Summary
Pediatric cochlear implant users correctly imitated 33% of consonants in nonword repetition tasks. Performance was better for coronal consonants, and oral communication users showed improved phonological skills.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Speech-Language Pathology
- Audiology
Background:
- Pediatric cochlear implant (CI) use is increasing, necessitating research into the phonological development of these children.
- Understanding nonword repetition abilities provides insight into a child's developing sound system.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze linguistic features of nonword imitations by pediatric CI users.
- To investigate variability in phonological skills among these children.
Main Methods:
- Eighty-eight pediatric CI users (ages 8-10) repeated 20 English nonwords.
- Consonant accuracy was scored based on linguistic features (voicing, place, manner).
- Error patterns, including deletions and substitutions, were analyzed.
Main Results:
- 33% of target consonants were imitated correctly; 25% were deleted; 42% were substituted.
- Coronal consonants were imitated more accurately than others.
- Poorer performers had more deletions but similar error patterns to better performers.
Conclusions:
- Lack of visual cues (e.g., lip closure) may impact imitation of labial consonants.
- Oral communication users outperformed total communication users, suggesting benefits for phonological skill development.