Substitution Patterns of Phoneme Errors in Hearing Aid and Cochlear Implant Users.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: It is acknowledged that speech perceptual errors are increased in listeners who have sensorineural hearing loss as noise increases. However, there is a lack of detailed information for their error pattern. The purpose of the present study was to analyze substitution patterns of phoneme errors in Korean hearing aid (HA) and cochlear implant (CI) users who are postlingually deafened adults.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In quiet and under two noise conditions, the phoneme errors of twenty HA and fourteen CI users were measured by using monosyllabic words, and a substitution pattern was analyzed in terms of manner of articulation.

RESULTS: The results showed that both groups had a high percentage of nasal and plosive substitutions regardless of background conditions.

CONCLUSIONS: This finding will provide vital information for understanding the speech perception of hearing-impaired listeners and for improving their ability to communicate when applied to auditory training.