Phonological Systems of Pediatric Cochlear Implant Users

描述（由申请人提供）：该项目的长期目标是增加我们对使用人工耳蜗至少五年的深度聋哑儿童所获得的语音系统的认识和理解。我们建议运用理论和临床语言学的方法对耳蜗植入后聋儿语音产生的语音系统进行详细分析。这些详细的语音片段清单、序列限制、语素语音实现的变化以及语音规则的实施的语言分析，然后将与所有一般的语音系统以及使用传统助听器的聋儿、听力正常的儿童和完全发展英语的聋儿的语音系统进行比较。对使用人工耳蜗的儿童的语音系统进行纵向分析，将确定这些系统变化的可能方向和程度，并提供有关随时间变化的制约因素的信息。基于结构相似性的语音系统亚型将被识别，并与言语感知能力和人口统计学因素（如植入年龄和沟通模式）相关，以识别可能影响语音系统结构的具体因素。因此，这个研究项目将解决一个关键问题，即人工耳蜗如何塑造使用它们的儿童的最终语言系统。研究结果将为语音发展提供有价值的新经验和理论信息，这将对设备设计、新干预方案的开发和实施以及教育安置的选择具有重要意义。最后，关于耳蜗植入后失聪儿童语音系统的拟议项目将为人类大脑适应电听力的能力提供新的见解，作为口语发展基础的结构化语言系统发展的催化剂。

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.