Consonant production following the sensory restoration of audition was investigated in 22 prelinguistically deaf French children who received cochlear implants. Spontaneous speech productions were recorded at 6, 12, and 18 months post-surgery and consonant inventories were derived from both glossable and non-glossable phones using two acquisition criteria. The results showed that children initiated appropriate production of consonants after six months of implant use. Stops and labials were the most frequently produced speech sounds, whereas glides and palatals were still infrequent after 18 months. Speech accuracy also improved throughout the study. Consonant visibility appeared to influence the order of acquisition in the first months following the implantation and, as experience with auditory information increased, patterns of development tended to resemble those seen in children with normal hearing. Finally, a signed mode of communication and oral rehabilitation programs prior to implantation were better outcome predictors than age at implantation.

Since the early 1980s, cochlear implantation has been an approved method for treating profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss in children. It is widely believed that the use of this device would significantly benefit young deaf children's development of speech and ability to participate in aural–oral communication. However, whereas significant improvement in speech reception and perception skills following implantation has been widely documented, cochlear prostheses as speech production aids have been studied less extensively. The main objective of this article is to review the work conducted on speech produced by prelingually deaf children following cochlear implantation. Cochlear implants and their functioning are described, as are the cognitive, social and clinical factors known to play a role in successful implantation of children. It is concluded that cochlear implantation may speed up speech production to near normal rates, but initial delays are not totally reversible. In addition, the variability in all performance measures is high, and the reasons for good and poor outcomes are only partly understood.

Phonetic transcriptions (study 1) and acoustic analysis (study 2) were used to clarify the nature and rhythm of vowel acquisition following the cochlear implantation of prelingually deaf children. In the first study, seven children were divided according to their degree of hearing loss (DHL): DHL I: 90–100 dB of hearing loss, 1 children; DHL II: 100–110 dB, 3 children; and DHL III: over 110 dB, 3 children. Spontaneous speech productions were recorded and videotaped 6 and 12 months postsurgery and vowel inventories were obtained by listing all vowels that occurred at least twice in the child’s repertoire at the time of recording. Results showed that degree of hearing loss and age at implantation have a significant impact on vowel acquisition. Indeed, DHL I and II children demonstrated more diversified as well as more typical pattern of acquisition. In the second study, the values of the first and second formants were extracted. The results suggest evolving use of the acoustic space, reflecting the use of auditory feedback to produce the three phonological features exploited to contrast French vowels (height, place of articulation, and rounding). The possible influence of visual feedback before cochlear implant is discussed.

The 2 main objectives of this investigation are (1) to assess the evolution of the speech intelligibility of 12 prelinguistically deaf children implanted between 25 and 78 months of age and (2) to clarify the influence of the age at implantation on the intelligibility. Speech productions videorecorded at 6, 18 and 36 months following surgery during a standardized free play session. Selected syllables were then presented to 40 adults listeners who were asked to identify the vowels or the consonants they heard and to judge the quality of the segments. Perceived vowels were then located in the vocalic space whereas consonants were classified according to voicing, manner and place of articulation. 3 (Groups) ×3 (Times) ANOVA with repeated measures revealed a clear influence of time as well as age at implantation on the acquisition patterns. Speech intelligibility of these implanted children tended to improve as their experience with the device increased. Based on these results, it is proposed that sensory restoration following cochlear implant served as a probe to develop articulatory strategies allowing them to reach the intended acoustico-perceptual target.