Phonological Systems of Pediatric Cochlear Implant Users

描述(由申请人提供)：这个项目的长期目标是增加我们对使用人工耳蜗术至少五年的深度失聪儿童获得的语音系统的知识和理解。我们建议运用理论语言学和临床语言学的方法，对聋儿人工耳蜗术后言语产生的语音系统进行详细的分析。这些对音段清单、排序的限制、语素的语音实现的变化以及语音规则的实施的详细的语言学分析，然后将与所有的语音系统以及使用常规助听器的聋儿、听力正常的儿童和完全发展的英语的语音系统进行比较。对使用人工耳蜗的儿童的语音系统的纵向分析将确定这些系统变化的可能方向和程度，并提供关于随着时间的变化对变化的限制的信息。基于结构相似性，将识别语音系统的亚型，并将其与语音感知能力和人口统计因素(如植入时的年龄和交流方式)相关联，以识别可能影响语音系统结构的特定因素。因此，这项研究项目将解决这样一个关键问题：人工耳蜗术如何塑造使用它的儿童的终极语言系统。研究结果将为语音发展提供有价值的新的经验和理论信息，这将对设备设计、新干预计划的开发和实施以及教育安置的选择具有重要的意义。最后，关于耳聋儿童植入人工耳蜗后的语音系统的拟议项目将为人类大脑适应作为口语发展基础的结构化语言系统发展的催化剂的电听力的能力提供新的见解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term goal of this project is to increase our knowledge and understanding of the phonological systems acquired by profoundly deaf children who have used cochlear implants for at least five years. We propose to apply methods from theoretical and clinical linguistics to produce detailed analyses of the phonological systems that underlie speech production by deaf children after cochlear implantation. These detailed linguistic analyses of sound segment inventories, constraints on sequencing, variation in phonetic realizations of morphemes, and implementation of phonological rules will then be compared to both all phonological systems in general and the phonological systems of deaf children who use conventional hearing aids, children who have normal hearing, and fully developed English. Longitudinal analyses of the phonological systems of children who use cochlear implants will identify possible directions and extent of changes in those systems and provide information regarding constraints on changes over time. Subtypes of phonological systems, based on structural similarities, will be identified and related to speech perception abilities and demographic factors such as age at implantation and communication mode to identify specific factors that may affect how phonological systems are structured. This research project will thus address the critical question of how cochlear implants shape the ultimate linguistic systems of children who use them. Findings will provide valuable new empirical and theoretical information about phonological development, which should have important implications for device design, the development and implementation of new intervention programs, and choices in educational placement. Finally, the proposed project on phonological systems of deaf children following cochlear implantation will provide new insights into the ability of the human brain to adapt to electrical hearing as a catalyst for the development of structured linguistic systems underlying spoken language development.