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Abstract
This study investigated phoneme accuracy in cochlear implanted (CI) children using auditory-oral versus total communication modes of communication as a function of sentences containing words easily guessed by the linguistic environment versus words unaided by the linguistic environment. A total of 173 children from 33 different states and five Canadian provinces participated. Communication mode was assessed through a parental rating scale inquiring how emphasis was placed on speech and auditory development in the educational setting. Thirty-six sentences varying in length (three, five, or seven syllables) contained a key word predicting speech intelligibility in deaf children. Average phoneme accuracy was 76.38% for the CI children. Across CI participants, vowel productions were more accurate (81.30%) than consonants (73.64%). Overall, phoneme accuracy was higher for key words in sentences containing more contextual information (78.57%) than lower contextual information (74.21%). Consonants were more accurately produced in high context sentences (75.75%) than low context sentences (71.48%). Similarly, vowels were more accurately produced in high context sentences (84.10%) than low context sentences (78.39%). Children using auditory-oral modes of communication were significantly more accurate than children using total communication at producing accurate place and manner of articulation features. Place of articulation accuracy was not significantly influenced by the contextual cues of the sentences: similar accuracy values were observed for high (70.2%) and low (67.9%) contexts. Accuracy of place of articulation features was highest for bilabial (86.3%), followed by labiodental (75.8%), alveolar (73.3%), velar (67.5%), and palatal (58.2%) places of articulation. Production patterns of CI children resemble those sensorineural hearing loss children in several ways including: 1) more accurate production of vowels than consonants; 2) visible consonants are produced more accurately than less visible consonants; and 3) less complex manipulations of airflow are more accurately produced than more complex manipulations.