Comparison of vowels in maternal speech to adults and to children with hearing loss. Free

Previous research has indicated that when speaking to normal‐hearing children, maternal caregivers' speech is characterized by a vowel space which is expanded relative to that produced when speaking to other adults. The present study investigated the characteristics of the vowel spaces produced by mothers interacting with hearing‐impaired children who had recently received a cochlear implant (CI), relative to those produced when interacting with another adult. Mothers were recorded interacting with their hearing‐impaired children with CIs in quiet play sessions at 3‐ or 6‐month interval postimplantation as well as in semistructured interviews with another adult. Measurements of F1 and F2 for the vowels /i/, /ɑ/, and /u/ in stressed syllables were taken, and the areas of the resulting vowel triangles for the two production conditions were compared. Preliminary results show that when speaking to their hearing‐impaired children with CIs, vowel spaces of mothers were not expanded relative to when speaking to another adult. The results will be compared with vowel spaces produced to normal‐hearing children and hearing‐impaired children with hearing aids. These findings have implications for developing intervention strategies aimed at caregivers for improving speech and language skills in children with CIs. [Work supported by NIH‐NIDCD R01DC008581.]