High-Variability Phonetic Training Benefits Lexical Tone Perception: An Investigation on Mandarin-Speaking Pediatric Cochlear Implant Users

Hao Zhang; Hongwei Ding; Yang Zhang

doi:10.1044/2021_jslhr-20-00631

High-Variability Phonetic Training Benefits Lexical Tone Perception: An Investigation on Mandarin-Speaking Pediatric Cochlear Implant Users

Hao Zhang, Hongwei Ding, Yang Zhang

Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Purpose Lexical tone perception is known to be persistently difficult for individuals with cochlear implants (CIs). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of high-variability phonetic training (HVPT) in improving Mandarin tone perception for native-speaking children with CIs. Method A total of 28 Mandarin-speaking pediatric CI recipients participated in the study. Half of the children with CIs received a five-session HVPT within a period of 3 weeks. Identification and discrimination of lexical tones produced by familiar talkers (used during training) and novel talkers (not used during training) were measured before, immediately after, and 10 weeks after training termination. The other half untrained children served as control for the identical pre- and posttests. Results Lexical tone perception significantly improved in both trained identification task and untrained discrimination task for the trainees. There was also a significant effect in transfer of learning to perceiving tones produced by novel talkers. Moreover, training-induced gains were retained for up to 10 weeks after training. By comparison, no significant pre-post changes were observed in the control group. Conclusion The results provide the first systematical assessment for the efficacy of the HVPT protocol for Mandarin-speaking pediatric CI users with congenital hearing loss, which supports the clinical utility of intensive short-term HVPT in these children's rehabilitative regimens.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	2070-2084
Number of pages	15
Journal	Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
Volume	64
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_jslhr-20-00631
State	Published - Jun 4 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This study was supported by grants from the Major Program of National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 18ZDA293) to H. Ding and Y. Zhang. Y. Zhang received additional support from the University of Minnesota’s Brain Imaging Grant and Grand Challenges Exploratory Research Grant for international collaboration. We thank the Shanghai Rehabilitation Center of the Deaf Children for the cooperation and assistance in implementing this study.

Funding Information:
This study was supported by grants from the Major Program of National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 18ZDA293) to H. Ding and Y. Zhang. Y. Zhang received additional support from the University of Minnesota?s Brain Imaging Grant and Grand Challenges Exploratory Research Grant for international collaboration. We thank the Shanghai Rehabilitation Center of the Deaf Children for the cooperation and assistance in implementing this study.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Keywords

Child
Cochlear Implantation
Cochlear Implants
Humans
Phonetics
Pitch Perception
Speech Perception
Timbre Perception

PubMed: MeSH publication types

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

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10.1044/2021_jslhr-20-00631

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title = "High-Variability Phonetic Training Benefits Lexical Tone Perception: An Investigation on Mandarin-Speaking Pediatric Cochlear Implant Users",

abstract = "Purpose Lexical tone perception is known to be persistently difficult for individuals with cochlear implants (CIs). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of high-variability phonetic training (HVPT) in improving Mandarin tone perception for native-speaking children with CIs. Method A total of 28 Mandarin-speaking pediatric CI recipients participated in the study. Half of the children with CIs received a five-session HVPT within a period of 3 weeks. Identification and discrimination of lexical tones produced by familiar talkers (used during training) and novel talkers (not used during training) were measured before, immediately after, and 10 weeks after training termination. The other half untrained children served as control for the identical pre- and posttests. Results Lexical tone perception significantly improved in both trained identification task and untrained discrimination task for the trainees. There was also a significant effect in transfer of learning to perceiving tones produced by novel talkers. Moreover, training-induced gains were retained for up to 10 weeks after training. By comparison, no significant pre-post changes were observed in the control group. Conclusion The results provide the first systematical assessment for the efficacy of the HVPT protocol for Mandarin-speaking pediatric CI users with congenital hearing loss, which supports the clinical utility of intensive short-term HVPT in these children's rehabilitative regimens.",

keywords = "Child, Cochlear Implantation, Cochlear Implants, Humans, Phonetics, Pitch Perception, Speech Perception, Timbre Perception",

author = "Hao Zhang and Hongwei Ding and Yang Zhang",

note = "Funding Information: This study was supported by grants from the Major Program of National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 18ZDA293) to H. Ding and Y. Zhang. Y. Zhang received additional support from the University of Minnesota{\textquoteright}s Brain Imaging Grant and Grand Challenges Exploratory Research Grant for international collaboration. We thank the Shanghai Rehabilitation Center of the Deaf Children for the cooperation and assistance in implementing this study. Funding Information: This study was supported by grants from the Major Program of National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 18ZDA293) to H. Ding and Y. Zhang. Y. Zhang received additional support from the University of Minnesota?s Brain Imaging Grant and Grand Challenges Exploratory Research Grant for international collaboration. We thank the Shanghai Rehabilitation Center of the Deaf Children for the cooperation and assistance in implementing this study. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.",

year = "2021",

month = jun,

day = "4",

doi = "10.1044/2021_jslhr-20-00631",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "64",

pages = "2070--2084",

journal = "Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - High-Variability Phonetic Training Benefits Lexical Tone Perception: An Investigation on Mandarin-Speaking Pediatric Cochlear Implant Users

AU - Zhang, Hao

AU - Ding, Hongwei

AU - Zhang, Yang

N1 - Funding Information: This study was supported by grants from the Major Program of National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 18ZDA293) to H. Ding and Y. Zhang. Y. Zhang received additional support from the University of Minnesota’s Brain Imaging Grant and Grand Challenges Exploratory Research Grant for international collaboration. We thank the Shanghai Rehabilitation Center of the Deaf Children for the cooperation and assistance in implementing this study. Funding Information: This study was supported by grants from the Major Program of National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 18ZDA293) to H. Ding and Y. Zhang. Y. Zhang received additional support from the University of Minnesota?s Brain Imaging Grant and Grand Challenges Exploratory Research Grant for international collaboration. We thank the Shanghai Rehabilitation Center of the Deaf Children for the cooperation and assistance in implementing this study. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

PY - 2021/6/4

Y1 - 2021/6/4

N2 - Purpose Lexical tone perception is known to be persistently difficult for individuals with cochlear implants (CIs). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of high-variability phonetic training (HVPT) in improving Mandarin tone perception for native-speaking children with CIs. Method A total of 28 Mandarin-speaking pediatric CI recipients participated in the study. Half of the children with CIs received a five-session HVPT within a period of 3 weeks. Identification and discrimination of lexical tones produced by familiar talkers (used during training) and novel talkers (not used during training) were measured before, immediately after, and 10 weeks after training termination. The other half untrained children served as control for the identical pre- and posttests. Results Lexical tone perception significantly improved in both trained identification task and untrained discrimination task for the trainees. There was also a significant effect in transfer of learning to perceiving tones produced by novel talkers. Moreover, training-induced gains were retained for up to 10 weeks after training. By comparison, no significant pre-post changes were observed in the control group. Conclusion The results provide the first systematical assessment for the efficacy of the HVPT protocol for Mandarin-speaking pediatric CI users with congenital hearing loss, which supports the clinical utility of intensive short-term HVPT in these children's rehabilitative regimens.

AB - Purpose Lexical tone perception is known to be persistently difficult for individuals with cochlear implants (CIs). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of high-variability phonetic training (HVPT) in improving Mandarin tone perception for native-speaking children with CIs. Method A total of 28 Mandarin-speaking pediatric CI recipients participated in the study. Half of the children with CIs received a five-session HVPT within a period of 3 weeks. Identification and discrimination of lexical tones produced by familiar talkers (used during training) and novel talkers (not used during training) were measured before, immediately after, and 10 weeks after training termination. The other half untrained children served as control for the identical pre- and posttests. Results Lexical tone perception significantly improved in both trained identification task and untrained discrimination task for the trainees. There was also a significant effect in transfer of learning to perceiving tones produced by novel talkers. Moreover, training-induced gains were retained for up to 10 weeks after training. By comparison, no significant pre-post changes were observed in the control group. Conclusion The results provide the first systematical assessment for the efficacy of the HVPT protocol for Mandarin-speaking pediatric CI users with congenital hearing loss, which supports the clinical utility of intensive short-term HVPT in these children's rehabilitative regimens.

KW - Child

KW - Cochlear Implantation

KW - Cochlear Implants

KW - Humans

KW - Phonetics

KW - Pitch Perception

KW - Speech Perception

KW - Timbre Perception

UR - https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_JSLHR-20-00631

U2 - 10.1044/2021_jslhr-20-00631

DO - 10.1044/2021_jslhr-20-00631

M3 - Article

C2 - 34057849

SN - 1092-4388

VL - 64

SP - 2070

EP - 2084

JO - Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders

JF - Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders

IS - 6

ER -

High-Variability Phonetic Training Benefits Lexical Tone Perception: An Investigation on Mandarin-Speaking Pediatric Cochlear Implant Users

Abstract

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Keywords

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