Audiogram of Chinese Phonemes: Construction and Evaluation

Abstract

Introduction: In aural rehabilitation, speech bananas are often used as a counseling tool to visually indicate one’s auditory access to speech sounds. We constructed a Chinese-based speech banana to provide Chinese-speaking users with a more appropriate distribution of Chinese speech sounds on an audiogram. Method: The location of each phoneme was defined by its frequency and intensity. To evaluate the clinical validity of the proposed speech banana, 15 Chinese-speaking hearing aid users were recruited; the predictability of the present speech banana was examined in terms of sensitivity and specificity based on their aided sound field narrow band noise thresholds and Speech Recognition Thresholds (SRT). Results: The data revealed high specificity rates of 94.2% below 8000 Hz and high sensitivity of 96.8% above 8000 Hz. Specificity measures the percentage of perceptible sounds correctly identified as such by the Chinese speech banana (CSB); sensitivity measures the percentage of imperceptible sounds that are correctly identified as such by the CSB. Discussion/Conclusion: The CSB represents a potentially valid counseling tool to identify phonemes that have poor perceptual quality and indicate auditory access gaps.

Applying the reference values of real-ear-to-coupler-difference for deaf and hard-of-hearing children in Taiwan: Cautions and considerations

“…In a previous study, when measured RECDs were used instead of reference RECDs, the hearing threshold was increased by as much as 18 dB [25]. This finding underscores the clinical relevance of accurate RECD measurements in hearing aid fittings for children with DHH.…”

“…Moreover, Mandarin comprises numerous high frequency phonemes, characterized by different manners (e.g., stops, affricates, fricatives, retroflexes) and places of articulation (e.g., bilabial, alveolar, palatal, etc.) [25]. It is important to note that these high frequency phonemes play a crucial role in distinguishing meaning in Mandarin.…”

Speech Perception and Quality-of-Life Outcomes in Mandarin-Speaking Postlingual Deaf Adults With Cochlear Implant: Any Difference With the Intonation Language Users?

“…Second, vowels and consonants exhibit fundamentally different acoustic characteristics. The frequency of the Mandarin Chinese vowels is located at the lower-frequency range (250–2000 Hz) and that of consonants is located at the higher-frequency range (4000–6000 Hz) (24,25). Third, the Mandarin final words are vowels or diphthongs, which is different from English where they are consonants.…”