TY - JOUR
T1 - Perception of voice cues in school-age children with hearing aids
AU - Babaoğlu, Gizem
AU - Rachman, Laura
AU - Ertürk, Pınar
AU - Özkişi Yazgan, Başak
AU - Sennaroğlu, Gonca
AU - Gaudrain, Etienne
AU - Başkent, Deniz
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Author(s).
PY - 2024/1
Y1 - 2024/1
N2 - The just-noticeable differences (JNDs) of the voice cues of voice pitch (F0) and vocal-tract length (VTL) were measured in school-aged children with bilateral hearing aids and children and adults with normal hearing. The JNDs were larger for hearing-aided than normal-hearing children up to the age of 12 for F0 and into adulthood for all ages for VTL. Age was a significant factor for both groups for F0 JNDs, but only for the hearing-aided group for VTL JNDs. Age of maturation was later for F0 than VTL. Individual JNDs of the two groups largely overlapped for F0, but little for VTL. Hearing thresholds (unaided or aided, 500-400 Hz, overlapping with mid-range speech frequencies) did not correlate with the JNDs. However, extended low-frequency hearing thresholds (unaided, 125-250 Hz, overlapping with voice F0 ranges) correlated with the F0 JNDs. Hence, age and hearing status differentially interact with F0 and VTL perception, and VTL perception seems challenging for hearing-aided children. On the other hand, even children with profound hearing loss could do the task, indicating a hearing aid benefit for voice perception. Given the significant age effect and that for F0 the hearing-aided children seem to be catching up with age-typical development, voice cue perception may continue developing in hearing-aided children.
AB - The just-noticeable differences (JNDs) of the voice cues of voice pitch (F0) and vocal-tract length (VTL) were measured in school-aged children with bilateral hearing aids and children and adults with normal hearing. The JNDs were larger for hearing-aided than normal-hearing children up to the age of 12 for F0 and into adulthood for all ages for VTL. Age was a significant factor for both groups for F0 JNDs, but only for the hearing-aided group for VTL JNDs. Age of maturation was later for F0 than VTL. Individual JNDs of the two groups largely overlapped for F0, but little for VTL. Hearing thresholds (unaided or aided, 500-400 Hz, overlapping with mid-range speech frequencies) did not correlate with the JNDs. However, extended low-frequency hearing thresholds (unaided, 125-250 Hz, overlapping with voice F0 ranges) correlated with the F0 JNDs. Hence, age and hearing status differentially interact with F0 and VTL perception, and VTL perception seems challenging for hearing-aided children. On the other hand, even children with profound hearing loss could do the task, indicating a hearing aid benefit for voice perception. Given the significant age effect and that for F0 the hearing-aided children seem to be catching up with age-typical development, voice cue perception may continue developing in hearing-aided children.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85183767296&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1121/10.0024356
DO - 10.1121/10.0024356
M3 - Article
C2 - 38284822
AN - SCOPUS:85183767296
SN - 0001-4966
VL - 155
SP - 722
EP - 741
JO - Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
JF - Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
IS - 1
ER -