The Perception and Production of the Final Question Intonations for the Cochlear Implantee

Abstract

Background and Objectives：Our goal is to examine the suprasegmental differences in the perception and production of the final sentence intonation in WH-questions and yes-no questions for the cochlear implantee and normal adults.

Materials and Methods：We made a CD for the perception material which consists of 10 WH-questions and five of them have differential final intonation. In the perception task, each 12 subjects are divided into the three groups-normal, prelingual and postlingual-and asked to check the answers according to WH-questions which have differential final intonation. In the production task, made them speak WH-questions with final intonation applicable to answer.

Results：We obtained the following observations：In the perception task, there is no differences among 3 groups in terms of final intonation perception and between sentences. In the production task, the prelingual group has longer length than any other groups in terms of full sentence and the prelingual group has smaller changing ratio than other two groups in pitch variations as well.

Conclusion：It takes more time to product the suprasegmental factors-final question intonation-suitably than the suprasegmental perception for the prelingual cochlear implantee. We have to consider it's a part of the speech rehabilitation course as a segmental factors.