Spectral characteristics for place of articulation in the speech of young normal, moderately and profoundly hearing-impaired French Canadians

Abstract

A group of 10 moderately hearing-impaired children aged 7–10 years (five boys, five girls), 10 profoundly hearing-impaired children (five boys, five girls), and 10 age-matched normal control subjects (five boys, five girls), were recorded producing the six occlusives / p t k b d g / before the vowel /a/. Five productions were elicited from each child for a total of 30 potential correct productions each. LPC spectral analyses were performed at the moment of release (the burst) to determine the degree to which Blumstein and Stevens' (1979) spectral place-of-articulation features were present in the speech of these normal and hearing-impaired children, and whether there were differences between groups. A static 'centroid' analysis was also performed. Results reveal that the moderately hearing-impaired children’s productions were not significantly different from those of the normal controls, but that some aspects of the profoundly hearing-impaired children’s productions did differ from those of the moderately hearing-impaired and normal children. The relationship between degree of hearing loss and severity of speech production deficits is discussed. Implications of the results for remediation are also considered.

Key Words:

• Spectral features
• place of articulation
• hearing-impaired speech