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Age‐Related Changes in Prosodic Features of Maternal Speech to Prelingually Deaf Infants with Cochlear Implants
Author(s) -
Kondaurova Maria V.,
Bergeson Tonya R.,
Xu Huipuing
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
infancy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.361
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1532-7078
pISSN - 1525-0008
DOI - 10.1111/infa.12010
Subject(s) - audiology , psychology , cochlear implant , hearing impaired , mean length of utterance , utterance , language development , medicine , developmental psychology , speech recognition , computer science
This study investigated prosodic and structural characteristics of infant‐directed speech to hearing‐impaired infants as they gain hearing experience with a cochlear implant over a 12‐month period of time. Mothers were recorded during a play interaction with their HI infants ( N = 27, mean age 18.4 months) at 3, 6, and 12 months postimplantation. Two separate control groups of mothers with age‐matched normal‐hearing infants ( NH ‐ AM ) ( N = 21, mean age 18.1 months) and hearing experience‐matched normal‐hearing infants ( NH ‐ EM ) ( N = 24, mean age 3.1 months) were recorded at three testing sessions. Mothers produced less exaggerated pitch characteristics, a larger number of syllables per utterance, and faster speaking rate when interacting with NH ‐ AM as compared to HI infants. Mothers also produced more syllables and demonstrated a trend suggesting faster speaking rate in speech to NH ‐ EM relative to HI infants. Age‐related modifications included decreased pitch standard deviation and increased number of syllables in speech to NH ‐ AM infants and increased number of syllables in speech to HI and NH ‐ EM infants across the 12‐month period. These results suggest that mothers are sensitive to the hearing status of their infants and modify characteristics of infant‐directed speech over time.