Asunto(s)

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Consonant production was investigated in 29 children participating in the federal Food and Drug Administration's clinical trials of the Nucleus WSP-III cochlear implant. Speech samples were collected preimplant and 1 year postimplant. A significantly greater number of children produced stop, nasal, fricative, and glide consonants postimplant. Voiced stop consonants were used by more children than the voiceless cognates; however, voiceless fricatives were used more than voiced fricatives. Visible places of articulation were used more frequently than less visible places of articulation. Comparisons to Smith's data (J Speech Hear Res 1975;18:795-811) revealed qualitative similarities but postimplant, quantitative differences were observed. Post hoc analyses of the data revealed some sounds were influenced more by an implant than other sounds and suggest the role of an implant upon spontaneous speech is complex.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Seven postlinguistically deaf adults implanted with the Nucleus Multi-Electrode Cochlear Implant participated in an evaluation of speech perception performance with three speech processors: the Wearable Speech Process (WSP III), a prototype of the Mini Speech Processor, and the Mini Speech Processor. The first experiment was performed with the prototype and Wearable Speech Processor both programmed using the F0F1F2 speech coding strategy. The second experiment compared performance with the Mini Speech Processor programmed with the Multi-Peak speech coding strategy and the Wearable Speech Processor programmed with the F0F1F2 speech coding strategy. Performance was evaluated in the sound-only condition using recorded speech tests presented in quiet and in noise. Questionnaires and informal reports provided information about use in everyday life. In experiment I, there was no significant difference in performance using the Wearable Speech Processor and prototype on any of the tests. Nevertheless, six out of seven subjects preferred the prototype for use in everyday life. In experiment II, performance on open-set tests in quiet and noise was significantly higher with the Mini Speech Processor (Multi-Peak speech coding strategy) than with the Wearable Speech Processor. Subjects reported an increase in their ability to communicate with other people using the Mini Speech Processor (Multi-Peak speech coding strategy) compared with the Wearable Speech Processor in everyday life.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Results from 80 pediatric subjects with 12 months of experience wearing the Nucleus multichannel cochlear implant are presented. The data suggest that children demonstrate statistically and clinically significant benefit across a broad spectrum of abilities with the implant. Significant postoperative improvement was demonstrated by 66 percent (51 of 77), 63 percent (45 of 72), and 46 percent (27 of 59) of subjects tested on suprasegmental (prosodic), closed-set and open-set tests, respectively. Forty-nine percent of subjects tested improved when lipreading was combined with sound from the implant, compared with lipreading alone. Children who were deaf at an early age or who had longer duration deafness tended to demonstrate poorer performance on the more difficult perceptual tasks after 12 months of implant experience. However, preliminary evidence suggests that continued improvements by congenital and prelinguistic subjects over longer periods of time may reduce performance differences between subjects with early and later onset deafness.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

The purpose of this study is to report on five speech production protocols collected as part of the Food and Drug Administration's Clinical Trials for the Nucleus multichannel cochlear implant. Sixty-one children, ranging in age from 2.4 years to 17.8 years, participated. Speech measures included nonsegmental and segmental portions of the Phonetic Level Speech Evaluation, the Phonologic Level Speech Evaluation, speech intelligibility, and an experimental condition examining speech produced with the device turned on versus off. Seventy-seven percent of the children improved on at least one-third of the speech production measures. Significant improvements in the ability to imitate prosodic characteristics were observed for 31.1 percent of the children. Improvements in the ability to imitate speech sounds were found for 66.7 percent of the children. Examination of phonologic skills acquired during spontaneous speaking improved for 55.6 percent of the children. Speech intelligibility improved in 62.9 percent of the children after implantation. More centralized second formant frequencies were observed in vowels produced with the speech processor turned off, as opposed to on, in all 13 of the children tested on this protocol. Data from this study suggest a multichannel cochlear implant may assist many children in developing better speech.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Electrical auditory brain stem responses (EABR) and electrical middle latency responses (EMLR) were recorded from patients who had received the Nucleus multichannel cochlear implant system. Twenty-five sequential patients had either intraoperative or outpatient EABR testing. We also recorded EMLRs from several outpatients. EABR results were consistent among all patients tested. Wave V mean latencies were the shortest (3.82 msec) for the most apical electrode (E20) and increased slightly for the medial (E12) and basal (E5) electrodes (3.94 and 4.20 msec, respectively). Absolute latencies for all EABR component waves were observed to be 1 to 1.5 msec shorter than typical acoustic auditory brain stem response (ABR) mean latencies. We have examined the relationships between patients' EABR/EMLR and their behavioral responses to electrical stimulation. Generally, the behavioral threshold and comfort current levels were lower than the predicted values based on EABR/EMLR findings. This observation may be due in part to psychophysical loudness differences noted for pulse rates of 10 to 500 pulses per second in some of the patients that we have studied in greater detail.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Children who have experienced recurrent or persistent otitis media with effusion (OME) at an early age often evidence deficient phonological skills in preschool that require remediation. If it were possible to identify these children before age 3, speech stimulation procedures and/or medical preventive measures might be considered. Forty children between the ages of 18 and 35 months who were scheduled for tympanostomy and tube placement were assessed audiologically and phonologically, data from their medical histories were tabulated, and parental educational and occupational status were determined. The subjects were reexamined at intervals of 3-4 months until their phonological performance reached a level indicating that broad phoneme-class or syllable-position remediation would not be necessary, or they had passed their third birthday. Discriminant analysis and multiple regression procedures indicated that certain measures or conditions, in combination, are good predictors of later phonologic inadequacy. Low age-weighted scores on production of velars, liquids, and postvocalic singleton obstruents, along with elevated thresholds at 500 Hz and a history of early onset and late remission from OME, were the most important variables characterizing children who did not catch up phonologically by age 3. Importantly, data from no one area alone could identify these children as reliably as combined data from the three areas.

Asunto(s)