Acoustic Cues for Consonant Perception with Combined Acoustic and Electric Hearing in Children

ABSTRACT

Many children who use a cochlear implant in one ear have usable residual hearing in the opposite ear. There is consensus that bilateral stimulation should be provided to these children by fitting a hearing aid in the nonimplanted ear. The combination of acoustic amplification via a hearing aid with electrical stimulation via a cochlear implant is commonly referred to as “bimodal hearing.” This article examines speech perceptual benefits associated with the use of bimodal hearing in children. First, a brief description of the acoustic basis for phonetic contrasts is provided. Second, information on children's consonant perception and information transmission via the use of cochlear implants with or without hearing aids is presented. Finally, a summary of fitting strategies is presented with validation results. These results support the optimization of a hearing aid with a cochlear implant for children.

KEYWORDS

Bimodal hearing - children - voice pitch - voicing - consonants - cochlear implants - hearing aids

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