Use of prosodic information by hearing-impaired children-consideration based on utterances and hearing using syntactically ambiguous statements

Abstract

This study investigated the use of prosodic information by hearing-impaired children from the aspects of both utterances and hearing. The subjects were 31 children attending schools for the deaf and special classes for the hard of hearing (average hearing level: 86.2 dBHL (SD=23.4)). They were requested to utter syntactically ambiguous sentences which have two possible interpretations. Their utterances were evaluated for their auditory impression (prosodic use of articulation) by hearing people. The criteria considered were the correlation between hearing level and sound components by sound analysis (e.g. F0 or pause). The results indicated that the hearing level of the low frequency band (250 Hz, 500 Hz) is related to utilization of speech prosodic information. The average hearing level of 90 dBHL is the border value. These findings indicated that differentiation of syntactically ambiguous sentences is related to F0 and a pause. Hearing-impaired children use available sound components to express a syntactic boundary with F0 and a pause.