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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of altering the fundamental frequency (F0) on perception of prosody and speaker gender in both normal-hearing listeners and cochlear implant (CI) recipients. Tests with natural speech and defined modifications of the F0 were performed, and the resulting changes in perception were measured. Compared to the normal-hearing listeners, most of the CI users exhibited worse outcomes, especially for sentence stress. In contrast, the speaker gender tests yielded similar results for both groups when artificially modifying the F0 contour. The results seemed to be strongly related to the duration of alterations in F0. Although the perception of prosodic cues was limited in most of the CI recipients, they showed qualitatively similar results to normal-hearing listeners in that the boundary between questions and statements and between female and male voices was comparable. A large inter-individual difference in performance was observed among the CI recipients, which could not be attributed to different processor or implant types or to other factors such as implant experience.
| Abbreviations | ||
| AFC | = | Alternative forced choice |
| CI | = | Cochlear implant |
| CIS | = | Continuous interleaved sampling |
| F0 | = | Fundamental frequency |
| MAC | = | Minimal auditory capabilities |
| MPEAK | = | Multipeak |
| NH | = | Normal hearing |
| SPAC | = | Speech pattern contrast |
| VTL | = | Vocal tract length |
| Abbreviations | ||
| AFC | = | Alternative forced choice |
| CI | = | Cochlear implant |
| CIS | = | Continuous interleaved sampling |
| F0 | = | Fundamental frequency |
| MAC | = | Minimal auditory capabilities |
| MPEAK | = | Multipeak |
| NH | = | Normal hearing |
| SPAC | = | Speech pattern contrast |
| VTL | = | Vocal tract length |
Sumario
El propósito de este estudio fue examinar los efectos de alterar la frecuencia fundamental (F0) en la percepción de los prosodia y del género del hablante tanto en sujetos con audición normal como en receptores de un implante coclear (CI). Se realizaron pruebas con lenguaje natural y con modificaciones definidas de la F0, y se midieron los cambios resultantes en la percepción. Comparados con los sujetos normoyentes, la mayoría de los usuarios del CI mostraron peores resultados, especialmente para el énfasis en las frases. En contraste, las pruebas de género del hablante rindieron resultados similares para ambos grupos cuando se modificó artificialmente el contorno del F0. Los resultados parecen estar fuertemente relacionados con la duración en la alteración en la F0. Aunque la percepción de las claves prosódicas fue limitado en la mayor parte de los receptores de CI, ellos mostraron cualitativamente resultados similares a los sujetos normoyentes, en cuanto a que el límite entre pregunta y afirmación y entre voz masculina y femenina fue comparable. Se observó una gran diferencia interindividual en desempeño entre los receptores de CI, que no podría ser atribuida a diferentes procesadores o tipos de implante, o a otros factores tales como la experiencia con el implante.1
Notes
1. Meister H., Pyschny V., Landwehr M., Walger M. & von Wedel H. The perception of prosodic cues in normal listeners and cochlear implant recipients. In: Proceedings of the 8th EFAS Congress, Heidelberg, June 6–9, 2007. Z Audiol Suppl, in press.
2. Pyschny V., Weber J., Walger M., von Wedel H. & Meister H. Voice discrimination in cochlear implant users. In: Proceedings of the 8th EFAS Congress, Heidelberg, June 6–9, 2007. Z Audiol Suppl, in press.