Acoustically Induced Vocal Training for Individuals With Impaired Hearing

Area of Science:

• Speech-language pathology
• Acoustics
• Hearing science

Background:

• Speech disorders in hearing-impaired individuals often involve articulation, phonation, and resonance issues, reducing intelligibility.
• Traditional speech therapy may not fully address these complex vocal tract adjustments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if nonacoustic feedback can facilitate vocal tract adjustments for improved resonance.
• To determine if training with this feedback aids in vowel formation for hearing-impaired speakers.

Main Methods:

• A prospective study involving seven profoundly hearing-impaired participants.
• Participants used acoustic sound waves targeting vocal tract resonances to adjust their vocal tract.
• Analysis included self-assessment, auditory voice analysis, and acoustic analysis of vowel production.

Main Results:

• Participants successfully enhanced acoustic signals by adjusting vocal tract shape.
• Self-perception, auditory, and acoustic analyses showed consistent improvements in vowel production.
• Reduced breathiness and hoarseness, increased mean sound pressure levels, and improved resonance/harmonic-to-noise ratio were observed.

Conclusions:

• Nonauditory feedback using acoustic waves shows promise for improving vowel formation in hearing-impaired individuals.
• The technique appears to reduce acoustic losses within the vocal tract, leading to clearer speech.