Speech Production Characteristics of Congenitally Deaf Children with Cochlear Implant

선천성심도 청각장애 아동의 와우이식 후 말산출 특성

The purpose of this study was to evaluate speech production ability of congenitally deaf children with cochlear implant. Forty children were participated in the study. The results are following: (1) mean of speech intelligibility score was 3.05 in 5 point scale, (2) mean of percent of correct vowels was 86.19%, and mean of percent of correct consonants was 74.89%, and (3) voice profiles showed their voice were high pitched, hypernasal, and breathy. But 12.5% of the children were evaluated as having normal voice quality. Overall speech production abilities of children with cochlear implant were superior than the deaf children's result reported in literatures. Meanwhile their abilities were not same as children with normal hearing.