The purpose of the study was to examine the acoustic features of sibilant fricatives and affricates produced by prelingually deafened Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants (CIs) in comparison to their age-matched normal-hearing (NH) peers. The speakers included 21 children with NH aged between 3.25 and 10 years old and 35 children with CIs aged between 3.77 and 15 years old who were assigned into chronological-age-matched and hearing-age-matched subgroups. All speakers were recorded producing Mandarin words containing nine sibilant fricatives and affricates (/s, ɕ, ʂ, ts, tsʰ, tɕ, tɕʰ, tʂ, tʂʰ/) located at the word-initial position. Acoustic analysis was conducted to examine consonant duration, normalized amplitude, rise time, and spectral peak. The results revealed that the CI children, regardless of whether chronological-age-matched or hearing-age-matched, approximated the NH peers in the features of duration, amplitude, and rise time. However, the spectral peaks of the alveolar and alveolopalatal sounds in the CI children were significantly lower than in the NH children. The lower spectral peaks of the alveolar and alveolopalatal sounds resulted in less distinctive place contrast with the retroflex sounds in the CI children than in the NH peers, which might partially account for the lower intelligibility of high-frequency consonants in children with CIs.
REFERENCES
1.
Behrens
,
S.
, and Blumstein
, S. E.
(1988
). “ On the role of the
amplitude of the fricative noise in the perception of place of articulation
in voiceless fricative consonants
,” J. Acoust. Soc.
Am.
84
(3
),
861
–867
.2.
Bharadwaj
, S.
V.
, Tobey
,
E. A.
, Assmann
,
P. F.
, and Katz
,
W. F.
(2006
). “ Effects of auditory
feedback on fricatives produced by cochlear-implanted adults and children:
Acoustic and perceptual evidence
,” J. Acoust. Soc.
Am.
119
(3
),
1626
–1635
.3.
Blamey
, P.
J.
, Barry
,
J. G.
, and Jacq
,
P.
(2001
). “ Phonetic inventory
development in young cochlear implant users 6 years
postoperation
,” J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res.
44
, 73
–79
.4.
Chen
,
X.
, You
,
Y.
, Yang
,
J.
, Qian
,
J.
, Lu
,
E.
, Kuehnel
,
V.
, Rehmann
,
J.
, Liu
,
B.
, and Xu
,
L.
(2020
). “ Effects of nonlinear
frequency compression on Mandarin speech and sound-quality perception in
hearing-aid users
,” Int. J. Audiol.
59
(7
),
524
–533
.5.
Davis
, B.
L.
, and MacNeilage
, P. F.
(1995
). “ The articulatory basis of
babbling
,” J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res.
38
, 1199
–1211
.6.
Dodd
,
B.
, Holm
,
A.
, Hua
,
Z.
, and Crosbie
, S.
(2003
). “ Phonological development: A
normative study of British English-speaking children
,”
Clin. Ling. Phon.
17
, 617
–643
.7.
Dorman
, M.
F.
, Raphael
,
L. J.
, and Isenberg
, D.
(1980
). “ Acoustic cues for a
fricative-affricate contrast in word-final position
,”
J. Phon.
8
(4
),
397
–405
.8.
Gaul Bouchard
,
M. E.
, Le Normand
,
M. T.
, and Cohen
,
H.
(2007
). “ Production of consonants by
prelinguistically deaf children with cochlear implants
,”
Clin. Ling. Phon.
21
(11–12
),
875
–884
.9.
Goldstein
, B.
A.
, Fabiano
,
L.
, and Washington
, P. S.
(2005
). “ Phonological skills in
predominantly English-speaking, predominantly Spanish-speaking, and
Spanish-English bilingual children
,” Lang. Speech
Hear. Serv. Sch.
36
(3
),
201
–218
.10.
Gordon
,
M.
, Barthmaier
,
P.
, and Sands
,
K.
(2002
). “ A cross-linguistic acoustic
study of voiceless fricatives
,” J. Int. Phon.
Assoc.
32
(2
),
141
–174
.11.
Grandon
,
B.
, and Vilain
,
A.
(2020
). “ Development of fricative
production in French-speaking school-aged children using cochlear implants
and children with normal hearing
,” J. Commun.
Disord.
86
, 1065996
.12.
Howell
,
P.
, and Rosen
,
S.
(1983
). “ Production and perception
of rise time in the voiceless affricate/fricative
distinction
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
73
(3
),
976
–984
.13.
Hua
,
Z.
, and Dodd
,
B.
(2000
). “ The phonological
acquisition of Putonghua (modern standard Chinese)
,”
J. Child Lang.
27
(1
),
3
–42
.14.
Ingram
,
D.
, Christensen
, L.
, Veach
,
S.
, and Webster
, B.
(1980
). “ The acquisition of
word-initial fricatives and affricates in english by children between 2 and
6 years
,” in Child
Phonology
( Academic
Press
, New York
), pp.
169
–192
.15.
Iyer
, S.
N.
, Jung
,
J.
, and Ertmer
,
D. J.
(2017
). “ Consonant acquisition in
young cochlear implant recipients and their typically developing
peers
,” Am. J. Speech Lang. Pathol.
26
(2
),
413
–427
.16.
Jongman
,
A.
, Wayland
,
R.
, and Wong
,
S.
(2000
). “ Acoustic characteristics of
English fricatives
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
108
(3
),
1252
–1263
.17.
Kent
, R.
D.
(1992
). “ The biology of phonological
development
,” in Phonological Development:
Models, Research, Implications
, edited by
C.
Ferguson
,
L.
Menn
, and
C.
Stoel-Gammon
( York Press
,
Timonium, MD
), pp.
65
–90
.18.
Kim
,
M.
, Kim
,
S. J.
, and Stoel-Gammon
, C.
(2017
). “ Phonological acquisition of
Korean consonants in conversational speech produced by young Korean
children
,” J. Child Lang.
44
(4
),
1010
–1023
.19.
Kluender
, K.
R.
, and Walsh
,
M. A.
(1992
). “ Amplitude rise time and the
perception of the voiceless affricate/fricative
distinction
,” Percept. Psychophys.
51
(4
),
328
–333
.20.
Ladefoged
,
P.
, and Wu
,
Z.
(1984
). “ Places of articulation: An
investigation of Pekingese fricatives and affricates
,”
J. Phonetics
12
, 267
–278
.21.
Lee
, C.
Y.
, Zhang
,
Y.
, and Li
,
X.
(2014
). “ Acoustic characteristics of
voiceless fricatives in Mandarin Chinese
,” J. Chin.
Ling.
42
(1
),
150
–171
.22.
Lee
, W.
S.
(1999
). “ An articulatory and
acoustical analysis of the syllable-initial sibilants and approximant in
Beijing Mandarin
,” in Proceedings of the 14th
International Congress of Phonetic Sciences
(
AIP
, College Park,
MD
), Vol. 413416.23.
Li
,
F.
, Bunta
,
F.
, and Tomblin
, J. B.
(2017
). “ Alveolar and postalveolar
voiceless fricative and affricate productions of Spanish–English bilingual
children with cochlear implants
,” J. Speech Lang.
Hear. Res.
60
(9
),
2427
–2441
.24.
Li
,
F.
, and Munson
,
B.
(2016
). “ The development of
voiceless sibilant fricatives in Putonghua-speaking
children
,” J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res.
59
(4
),
699
–712
.25.
Li
,
S.
, and Gu
,
W.
(2016
). “ Acoustic characteristics of
Mandarin affricates
,” J. Tsinghua Univ. (Sci.
Technol.)
56
(11
),
1202
–1208
.26.
Liker
,
M.
, Mildner
,
V.
, and Šindija
, B.
(2007
). “ Acoustic analysis of the
speech of children with cochlear implants: A longitudinal
study
,” Clin. Ling. Phon.
21
(1
),
1
–11
.27.
Loizou
, P.
C.
(2006
). “ Speech processing in
vocoder-centric cochlear implants
,” Adv.
Otorhinolaryngol.
64
, 109
–143
.28.
MacLeod
, A.
A.
, Sutton
,
A.
, Trudeau
,
N.
, and Thordardottir
, E.
(2011
). “ The acquisition of
consonants in Québécois French: A cross-sectional study of pre-school aged
children
,” Int. J. Speech-Lang. Pathol.
13
(2
),
93
–109
.29.
MacNeilage
, P.
F.
, Davis
,
B. L.
, Kinney
,
A.
, and Matovear
, C. L.
(2000
). “ The motor core of speech: A
comparison of serial organization patterns in infants and
languages
,” Child Develop.
71
(1
),
153
–163
.30.
Mahmoodzade
,
Z.
, and Bijankhan
, M.
(2007
). “ Acoustic analysis of the
Persian fricative-affricate contrast
,” in
Proceedings of 16th International Congress of Phonetic
Sciences
, edited by
J.
Trouvain
and
W. J.
Barry
( Universität des
Saarlandes
, Saarland,
Germany
), pp.
921
–924
.31.
Mildner
,
V.
, and Liker
,
M.
(2008
). “ Fricatives, affricates, and
vowels in Croatian children with cochlear implants
,”
Clin. Ling. Phon.
22
(10-11
),
845
–856
.32.
Mitani
,
S.
, Kitama
,
T.
, and Sato
,
Y.
(2006
). “ Voiceless
affricate/fricative distinction by frication duration and amplitude rise
slope
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
120
(3
),
1600
–1607
.33.
Nirgianaki
,
E.
(2014
). “ Acoustic characteristics of
Greek fricatives
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
135
(5
),
2964
–2976
.34.
Peng
, S.
C.
, Weiss
,
A. L.
, Cheung
,
H.
, and Lin
,
Y. S.
(2004
). “ Consonant production and
language skills in Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear
implants
,” Arch. Otolaryngol. Head Neck
Surg.
130
(5
),
592
–597
.35.
Prather
,
E.
, Hendrick
,
D.
, and Kern
,
C.
(1975
). “ Articulation development in
children aged 2 to 4 years
,” J. Speech Hear.
Disord.
40
, 179
–191
.36.
Qi
,
S.
, Chen
,
X.
, Yang
,
J.
, Wang
,
X.
, Tian
,
E.
, Huang
,
R.
, Rehmann
,
J.
, Kuehnel
,
V.
, Guan
,
J.
, and Xu
,
L.
(2021
). “ Effects of adaptive
nonlinear frequency compression in hearing aids on speech and sound quality
perception
,” Front. Neurosci.
15
, 1038
.37.
Reidy
, P.
F.
, Kristensen
,
K.
, Winn
,
M. B.
, Litovsky
,
R. Y.
, and Edwards
, J. R.
(2017
). “ The acoustics of
word-initial fricatives and their effect on word-level intelligibility in
children with bilateral cochlear implants
,” Ear
Hear.
38
(1
),
42
–56
.38.
Repp
, B.
H.
(1979
). “ Relative amplitude of
aspiration noise as a voicing cue for syllable-initial stop
consonants
,” Lang. Speech
22
(2
),
173
–189
.39.
Sander
, E.
K.
(1972
). “ When are speech sounds
learned?
,” J. Speech Hear. Disord.
37
, 55
–63
.40.
Serry
, T.
A.
, and Blamey
,
P. J.
(1999
). “ A 4-year
investigation into phonetic inventory development in young cochlear implant
users
,” J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res.
42
(1
),
141
–154
.41.
Shadle
, C.
H.
(1985
). “ The acoustics of fricative
consonants
,” Ph.D. thesis,
MIT
, Cambridge,
MA
.42.
Si
,
Y.
(2006
). “ A case study on
phonological acquisition in a Mandarin-speaking child (Putonghua Ertong
Yuyin de Ge'an Yanjiu)
,” Contemp. Ling.
8
(1
),
1
–16
.43.
Smit
, A.
B.
, Hand
,
L.
, Frelinger
,
J. J.
, Bernthal
,
J. E.
, and Bird
,
A.
(1990
). “ The Iowa articulation norms
project and its Nebraska replication
,” J. Speech
Hear. Disord.
55
, 779
–798
.44.
So
, L.
K.
, and Dodd
,
B. J.
(1995
). “ The acquisition of
phonology by Cantonese-speaking children
,” J. Child
Lang.
22
(3
),
473
–495
.45.
Stokes
, S.
F.
, and Surendran
, D.
(2005
). “ Articulatory complexity,
ambient frequency, and functional load as predictors of consonant
development in children
,” J. Speech Lang. Hear.
Res.
48
(3
),
577
–591
.46.
Stokes
, S.
F.
, and Zhen
,
F.
(1998
). “ An electropalatographic
description of Putonghua fricatives and affricates
,”
Asia Pacific J. Speech Lang. Hear.
3
(2
),
69
–78
.47.
Strevens
,
P.
(1960
). “ Spectra of fricative noise
in human speech
,” Lang. Speech
3
, 32
–49
.48.
Sundarrajan
,
M.
, Tobey
,
E. A.
, Nicholas
,
J.
, and Geers
,
A. E.
(2020
). “ Assessing consonant
production in children with cochlear implants
,” J.
Commun. Disord.
84
, 105966
.49.
Toda
,
M.
, and Honda
,
K.
(2003
). “ An MRI-based
cross-linguistic study of sibilant fricatives
,” in
Proceedings of the 6th International Seminar on Speech
Production
, December 6–10, Manly, Australia.50.
Todd
, A.
E.
, Edwards
,
J. R.
, and Litovsky
, R. Y.
(2011
). “ Production of contrast
between sibilant fricatives by children with cochlear
implants
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
130
(6
),
3969
–3979
.51.
Topbaş
,
S.
(1997
). “ Phonological acquisition of
Turkish children: Implications for phonological disorders
,”
Eur. J. Disord. Commun.
32
, 377
–396
.52.
Uchanski
, R.
M.
, and Geers
,
A. E.
(2003
). “ Acoustic characteristics of
the speech of young cochlear implant users: A comparison with normal-hearing
age-mates
,” Ear Hear.
24
(1
),
90S
–105S
.53.
Wu
, Z.
J.
(1986
). The Spectrographic Album of
Mono-Syllables of Standard Chinese
(
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
,
Beijing, China
).54.
Yang
,
J.
, Qian
,
J.
, Chen
,
X.
, Kuehnel
,
V.
, Rehmann
,
J.
, von Buol
,
A.
, Li
,
Y.
, Ren
,
C.
, Liu
,
B.
, and Xu
,
L.
(2018
). “ Effects of nonlinear
frequency compression on the acoustic properties and recognition of speech
sounds in Mandarin Chinese
,” J. Acoust. Soc.
Am.
143
(3
),
1578
–1590
.55.
Yang
,
J.
, Vadlamudi
,
J.
, Yin
,
Z.-G.
, Lee
,
C.-Y.
, and Xu
,
L.
(2017
). “ Production of word-initial
fricatives in prelingually deafened children with cochlear implants: A
preliminary study
,” Int. J. Speech Lang.
Pathol.
19
(2
),
153
–164
.56.
Yang
,
J.
, Wang
,
X.
, Yu
,
J.
, and Xu
,
L.
(2023
). “ Consonant intelligibility
in Mandarin-speaking prelingually deafened children with cochlear
implants
,” J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res.
(published online).57.
Zhou
,
N.
, Xu
,
L.
, and Lee
,
C.-Y.
(2010
). “ The effects of
frequency-place shift on consonant confusion in cochlear implant
simulations
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
128
, 401
–409
.© 2023 Acoustical Society of America.
2023
Acoustical Society of America
You do not currently have access to this content.
