Identification of Cantonese tones by children with sensory hearing impairment: effects of noise and hearing aid frequency response

Abstract

The present study examined the tonal identification abilities of a control group (n = 23 normal hearing children, mean age = 13.6 years; SD = 1.9) and two experimental groups: a mild to moderate hearing-impaired group (n = 11, mean age = 15.8 years, SD = 1.9); and, a moderately severe hearing-impaired group (n = 11, mean age = 14.3 years, SD = 3.7). The two experimental groups were tested monaurally in a sound field under two different hearing aid frequency responses and two noise conditions (quiet/noise). All participants in the experimental group were of normal intelligence and free from other disabilities except hearing impairment. The results revealed that tonal identification ability was impeded as the degree of hearing impairment increased. A noise effect was found, showing a significant lower tone identification score in noise than in quiet. The hearing aid frequency response effect, however, did not reach significance. The most common tonal identification errors, made by the hearing-impaired groups, were tone 6/tone 4 and tone 5/tone 2 confusions, with their reciprocals. These results highlight the difficulty of hearing-impaired children in identifying Cantonese tones, particularly in noisy environments.