Auditory and Visual Contributions to Speech Feature Production in Deaf Children with Cochlear Implants

This study examines the ability of Deaf children with cochlear implants to perceive and produce the following speech features: Vowel Height, Vowel Place, Consonant Place of Articulation (anterior and back), Continuance and Consonant Voicing. Seven children between 3;4 and 4;10 with a minimum of 18 months of experience with their implants served as participants. Perception of the features was assessed using OLIMSPAC as described by Boothroyd, Eisenberg & Martinez [2] which permits examination of feature perception through audition alone and through audition and vision. Production was examined by having the children name a series of pictures containing word initial segments that reflected contrasts of each feature. Results showed a tendency for perception accuracy to be lower through audition alone than through audition and vision, and that production accuracy tended to be higher than perception accuracy.