scholarly journals Singing Proficiency of Members of a Choir Formed by Prelingually Deafened Children With Cochlear Implants

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 1561-1573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Yang ◽  
Qi Liang ◽  
Haotong Chen ◽  
Yanjun Liu ◽  
Li Xu
Keyword(s):  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
High Accuracy ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Mean Deviation ◽  
Mean Absolute Deviation ◽  
Absolute Deviation ◽  
Music Training ◽  
Percent Correct ◽  
F0 Contour

PurposeA group of 10 prelingually deafened children with cochlear implants (CIs) formed a choir and received 21 months of formal music training. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the singing proficiency of these children.MethodThe participants included all choir members (7 girls and 3 boys, mean age of 9.5 years old) who were unilateral CI users. Meanwhile, 8 age-matched children with normal hearing were recruited as controls and were trained on 1 song for 2 weeks. Individual singing samples without instrument accompaniment were recorded from all participants. The singing samples were subject to acoustic analysis in which the fundamental frequency (F0) of each note was extracted and the duration was measured. Five metrics were developed and computed to quantify the accuracy of their pitch and rhythm performance. The 5 metrics included (a) percent correct of F0 contour direction of adjacent notes, (b) mean deviation of the normalized F0 across the notes, (c) mean deviation of the pitch intervals, (d) mean deviation of adjacent note duration ratio, and (e) mean absolute deviation of note duration.ResultsThe choir members with CIs demonstrated high accuracy in both pitch and tempo measures and performed on par with the children with normal hearing. Early start of music training after implantation and use of bimodal hearing contributed to the development of better music ability in these children with CIs.ConclusionThese findings indicated that rigorous music training could facilitate high singing proficiency in prelingually deafened children with CIs.

scholarly journals The effortful and invisible cost of repairing speech misperceptions by individuals who use cochlear implants

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Winn ◽  
Katherine Teece
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Verbal Response ◽  
External Observer ◽  
Percent Correct ◽  
Extra Effort ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
Mere Presence ◽  
Reconstruction Of Words

PurposeSpeech recognition percent-correct scores fail to capture the effort of mentally repairing the perception of speech that was initially misheard. This study includes two experiments to simulate and measure the effort of this experience of mental repair, from the perspective of both listener and talker.MethodsCochlear implant (CI) listeners heard and repeated sentences where single words were distorted or masked by noise, but recoverable based on later context – a signature of mental repair. Changes in pupil dilation were tracked as an index of effort and time-locked with specific landmarks during perception. Later, audio recordings of the participants’ responses were played for outside observers who judged whether they thought the CI user mentally repaired a word.ResultsEffort significantly increases when a listener needs to repair a misperceived word, even if the verbal response is ultimately correct. That increased effort lasts longer for CI users than for listeners with normal hearing. There was no success in detecting that effort by nearly 200 external observers including audiologists and others who profess to have experience and skill in conversing with people who have hearing loss. Mental repair of words in a sentence were accompanied by greater prevalence of errors elsewhere in the same sentence, suggesting that effort spreads to consume resources across time. ConclusionsListening effort is better explained by the mental repair and reconstruction of words rather than the appearance of correct or incorrect perception. Linguistic coherence drives effort more heavily than the mere presence of mistakes, highlighting the importance of effort that cannot be tracked with individual words or digits. However, an external observer is not able to reliably detect that extra effort in the listener’s voice.

scholarly journals Listening effort: Not just a function of speech intelligibility scores

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Winn ◽  
Katherine H. Teece
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Pupil Size ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Listening Effort ◽  
Wrong Answer ◽  
Percent Correct ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
Whole Word

Speech perception and listening effort are complicated and interrelated concepts. One might assume that intelligibility performance (percent correct) is a proxy for listening effort, but there are some reasons to challenge whether that is actually true. Correct responses in speech perception tests could reflect effortful mental processing, and a completely wrong answer could evoke very little effort, especially if the misperception itself is linguistically well-formed and sensible. This paper presents evidence that listening effort is not a function of the proportion of words correct, but is rather driven by the types of errors, position of errors within a sentence, and the need to resolve ambiguity, reflecting how easily the listener can make sense of a perception. We offer a taxonomy of error types that is both intuitive and also consistent with data from two experiments measuring listening effort with careful controls to either elicit specific kinds of mistakes or to track specific mistakes retrospectively. Participants included individuals with normal hearing or with cochlear implants. In two experiments of sentence repetition, listening effort – indexed by changes in pupil size – was found to scale with the amount of perceptual restoration needed (phoneme versus whole word), and also scale with the sensibility of responses, but not with the number of intelligibility errors. Although mental corrective action and number of mistakes can scale together in many experiments, it is possible to dissociate them in order to advance toward a more explanatory (rather than correlational) account of listening effort.

Speech Recognition Abilities of Adults Using Cochlear Implants with FM Systems

2004 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 678-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin C. Schafer ◽  
Linda M. Thibodeau
Keyword(s):  
Speech Recognition ◽  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Sound Field ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Classroom Setting ◽  
Percent Correct ◽  
Word Repetition ◽  
Hearing In Noise ◽  
Noise Test ◽  
Speech Recognition In Noise

Speech recognition was evaluated for ten adults with normal hearing and eight adults with Nucleus cochlear implants (CIs) at several different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and with three frequency modulated (FM) system arrangements: desktop, body worn, and miniature direct connect. Participants were asked to repeat Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) sentences presented with speech noise in a classroom setting and percent correct word repetition was determined. Performance was evaluated for both normal-hearing and CI participants with the desktop soundfield system. In addition, speech recognition for the CI participants was evaluated using two FM systems electrically coupled to their speech processors. When comparing the desktop sound field and the No-FM condition, only the listeners with normal hearing made significant improvements in speech recognition in noise. When comparing the performance across the three FM conditions for the CI listeners, the two electrically coupled FM systems resulted in significantly greater improvements in speech recognition in noise relative to the desktop soundfield system.

scholarly journals Acoustic analysis of voice in children with cochlear implants

2014 ◽  
Vol 67 (suppl. 1) ◽  
pp. 32-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Miljkovic ◽  
Mila Veselinovic ◽  
Ivana Sokolovac ◽  
Dragan Dankuc ◽  
Zoran Komazec ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Speech Development ◽  
Voice Pitch ◽  
Acoustic Parameters ◽  
Noise Ratio ◽  
Hearing Children

Introduction. The focus of this study was the analysis of objective acoustic characteristics of voice in children with cochlear implants. The objective of this study was to compare acoustic parameters of voice in children with cochlear implants and normal hearing children of the same age, and to determine differences, if there were any. Material and Methods. There were 60 children (aged from 6 to 13) included in this prospective study. They were divided into 2 groups: children with cochlear implants (30) and normal hearing children with normal speech development (30). The most stable voice sample was analyzed using a software program Dr Speech: Vocal Assessment. Objective acoustic analysis of voice included 13 acoustic parameters. Results. Standard deviation of fundamental frequency was significantly (p=0.000) higher in children with cochlear implants, as well as the values of harmonic to noise ratio (p=0.003) and signal to noise ratio (p=0.000) parameters. Values of jitter %, shimmer %, normalized noise energy, fundamental frequency tremor and amplitude tremor showed no significant differences between the two groups. However, the values of parameters that refer to voice frequency (habitual fundamental frequency, mean fundamental frequency, min fundamental frequency and max fundamental frequency) and the mean value of voice intensity (p=0.004), were significantly higher in the boys and the girls with cochlear implants than in the normal hearing children. Conclusion. Gender non-related parameters of hoarseness did not show significant differences between the children with cochlear implants and the normal hearing children; the results of cochlear implantation and voice and speech education were therefore positive. However, the children with cochlear implants of both gender showed significantly higher values of voice intensity, voice pitch and insufficient control of voice pitch variation.

Effects of Fundamental Frequency Contours on Sentence Recognition in Mandarin-Speaking Children With Cochlear Implants

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (11) ◽  
pp. 3855-3864
Author(s):  
Wanting Huang ◽  
Lena L. N. Wong ◽  
Fei Chen ◽  
Haihong Liu ◽  
Wei Liang
Keyword(s):  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
Sentence Recognition ◽  
Test Conditions ◽  
Age Appropriate ◽  
F0 Contour ◽  
Appropriate Sentences

Purpose Fundamental frequency (F0) is the primary acoustic cue for lexical tone perception in tonal languages but is processed in a limited way in cochlear implant (CI) systems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the importance of F0 contours in sentence recognition in Mandarin-speaking children with CIs and find out whether it is similar to/different from that in age-matched normal-hearing (NH) peers. Method Age-appropriate sentences, with F0 contours manipulated to be either natural or flattened, were randomly presented to preschool children with CIs and their age-matched peers with NH under three test conditions: in quiet, in white noise, and with competing sentences at 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio. Results The neutralization of F0 contours resulted in a significant reduction in sentence recognition. While this was seen only in noise conditions among NH children, it was observed throughout all test conditions among children with CIs. Moreover, the F0 contour-induced accuracy reduction ratios (i.e., the reduction in sentence recognition resulting from the neutralization of F0 contours compared to the normal F0 condition) were significantly greater in children with CIs than in NH children in all test conditions. Conclusions F0 contours play a major role in sentence recognition in both quiet and noise among pediatric implantees, and the contribution of the F0 contour is even more salient than that in age-matched NH children. These results also suggest that there may be differences between children with CIs and NH children in how F0 contours are processed.

Age at Full-Time Use Predicts Language Outcomes Better Than Age of Surgery in Children Who Use Cochlear Implants

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 986-992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa R. Park ◽  
Erika B. Gagnon ◽  
Erin Thompson ◽  
Kevin D. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Time Use ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Language Outcomes ◽  
Age At Surgery ◽  
Device Placement ◽  
Device Use ◽  
Better Than

Purpose The aims of this study were to (a) determine a metric for describing full-time use (FTU), (b) establish whether age at FTU in children with cochlear implants (CIs) predicts language at 3 years of age better than age at surgery, and (c) describe the extent of FTU and length of time it took to establish FTU in this population. Method This retrospective analysis examined receptive and expressive language outcomes at 3 years of age for 40 children with CIs. Multiple linear regression analyses were run with age at surgery and age at FTU as predictor variables. FTU definitions included 8 hr of device use and 80% of average waking hours for a typically developing child. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the establishment and degree of FTU. Results Although 8 hr of daily wear is typically considered FTU in the literature, the 80% hearing hours percentage metric accounts for more variability in outcomes. For both receptive and expressive language, age at FTU was found to be a better predictor of outcomes than age at surgery. It took an average of 17 months for children in this cohort to establish FTU, and only 52.5% reached this milestone by the time they were 3 years old. Conclusions Children with normal hearing can access spoken language whenever they are awake, and the amount of time young children are awake increases with age. A metric that incorporates the percentage of time that children with CIs have access to sound as compared to their same-aged peers with normal hearing accounts for more variability in outcomes than using an arbitrary number of hours. Although early FTU is not possible without surgery occurring at a young age, device placement does not guarantee use and does not predict language outcomes as well as age at FTU.

Minimally Empirical Double Hybrid Functionals Trained Against the GMTKN55 Database: revDSD-PBEP86-D4, revDOD-PBE-D4, and DOD-SCAN-D4

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Golokesh Santra ◽  
Nitai Sylvetsky ◽  
Gershom Martin
Keyword(s):  
Substantial Improvement ◽  
Viable Alternative ◽  
Mean Absolute Deviation ◽  
Dispersion Correction ◽  
Training Set ◽  
Weighted Mean ◽  
Absolute Deviation ◽  
Hybrid Functionals ◽  
Scaling Algorithms

We present a family of minimally empirical double-hybrid DFT functionals parametrized against the very large and diverse GMTKN55 benchmark. The very recently proposed wB97M(2) empirical double hybrid (with 16 empirical parameters) has the lowest WTMAD2 (weighted mean absolute deviation over GMTKN55) ever reported at 2.19 kcal/mol. However, our xrevDSD-PBEP86-D4 functional reaches a statistically equivalent WTMAD2=2.22 kcal/mol, using just a handful of empirical parameters, and the xrevDOD-PBEP86-D4 functional reaches 2.25 kcal/mol with just opposite-spin MP2 correlation, making it amenable to reduced-scaling algorithms. In general, the D4 empirical dispersion correction is clearly superior to D3BJ. If one eschews dispersion corrections of any kind, noDispSD-SCAN offers a viable alternative. Parametrization over the entire GMTKN55 dataset yields substantial improvement over the small training set previously employed in the DSD papers.

Minimally Empirical Double Hybrid Functionals Trained Against the GMTKN55 Database: revDSD-PBEP86-D4, revDOD-PBE-D4, and DOD-SCAN-D4

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Golokesh Santra ◽  
Nitai Sylvetsky ◽  
Gershom Martin
Keyword(s):  
Substantial Improvement ◽  
Viable Alternative ◽  
Mean Absolute Deviation ◽  
Dispersion Correction ◽  
Training Set ◽  
Weighted Mean ◽  
Absolute Deviation ◽  
Hybrid Functionals ◽  
Scaling Algorithms

We present a family of minimally empirical double-hybrid DFT functionals parametrized against the very large and diverse GMTKN55 benchmark. The very recently proposed wB97M(2) empirical double hybrid (with 16 empirical parameters) has the lowest WTMAD2 (weighted mean absolute deviation over GMTKN55) ever reported at 2.19 kcal/mol. However, our xrevDSD-PBEP86-D4 functional reaches a statistically equivalent WTMAD2=2.22 kcal/mol, using just a handful of empirical parameters, and the xrevDOD-PBEP86-D4 functional reaches 2.25 kcal/mol with just opposite-spin MP2 correlation, making it amenable to reduced-scaling algorithms. In general, the D4 empirical dispersion correction is clearly superior to D3BJ. If one eschews dispersion corrections of any kind, noDispSD-SCAN offers a viable alternative. Parametrization over the entire GMTKN55 dataset yields substantial improvement over the small training set previously employed in the DSD papers.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document