Examining processor and stimulus list differences in word recognition by children using a cochlear implant
Stefan A. Frisch, Ted A. Meyer, David B. Pisoni · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1999
Boothroyd and Nittrouer [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 84, 101–114 (1988) J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 87, 2705–2715 (1990)] and Rabinowitz et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 92, 1869–1881 (1992)] have demonstrated a power-law relationship between the accuracy in phoneme recognition and the accuracy in word recognition by normal hearing adults, older adults, children, and adults using cochlear implants. The power-law relationship provides a simple mathematical model of context effects on speech perception. An analysis of spoken word recognition performance by children using cochlear implants reveals an analogous power-law relationship between phoneme and word recognition. Further, comparison between groups using two different speech processors (SPEAK and MPEAK) shows that, while overall performance is affected by the processor, the power-law relationship is unaffected. By contrast, comparison between different stimulus lists finds the power-law relationship is affected by the phonotactic structure of the 20 lexical items used and their familiarity to the listener. [Work supported by NIH, AAO-HNS.]