Prosody and voice characteristics of children with cochlear implants

This descriptive, longitudinal study involved the analysis of the prosody and voice characteristics of conversational speech produced by six young children with severe to profound hearing impairments who had been fitted with cochlear implants. A total of 40 samples were analyzed using the Prosody-Voice Screening Profile (PVSP; Shriberg, L. D., Kwiatkowski, J., & Rasmussen, C. (1990). Prosody-Voice Screening Profile (PVSP). Tuscon, AZ: Communication Skill Builders). Overall, the children presented with noticeable problems with stress and resonance quality. There were some difficulties noted with rate, loudness, and laryngeal quality, but there were no consistent difficulties with phrasing or pitch. This suggested that prosody and voice characteristics in this population are different from those typically observed in children with severe to profound hearing impairments though some problem areas remain. Some developmental trends were also observed. These findings suggest that cochlear implants offer some significant benefits to children with hearing impairment in terms of prosody and voice outcomes. Learning outcomes: The reader will be able to: (1) identify aspects of prosody and voice that have been noted as problematic for individuals with severe to profound hearing impairment, and (2) list potential differences between the prosody and voice characteristics of children with cochlear implants and classic descriptions of the speech of individuals with hearing impairment. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.