An Acoustic Analysis of English Vowels Produced by Hearing-Impairedand Normal-Hearing High School and College Students

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국언어치료학회
· 수록지 정보 : 언어치료연구 / 23권 / 4호 / 121 ~ 133페이지
· 저자명 : 한경임, 이근민

초록

purpose: This study analyzes differences in English vowels produced by hearing-impaired and normal-hearing groups from acoustic viewpoints. It also shows which factors, among acoustic parameters, cause abnormal quality of voice for the hearing-impaired. The goal of this study was twofold: first, it examined the acoustic parameters such as F0, intensity, jitter, shimmer, and HNR in the five English vowels /ɪ,ɛ,æ,ʌ,ʊ/ as produced by 16 hearing-impaired and 16 normal-hearing people. Second, it explored whether these acoustic parameters would be useful in evaluating the voice quality of the hearing-impaired. Methods: Participants were asked to read English words that contained /ɪ,ɛ,æ,ʌ,ʊ/ in various phonetic contexts. The recorded data were converted to aiff files and analyzed using Praat. Results: First, F0 was significantly higher in the HI group than in the NH group and in the female group than male group. A very weak significant difference was found for vowels. Second, intensity was significantly higher in the HI group than in the NH group, in the male group than the female group, and in back vowels than front vowels. Third, jitter was significantly higher in the NH group than the HI group, in the male group than the female group, and in high vowels than non-high vowels. Fourth, shimmer was significantly higher in the male group than in the female group, but no significant differences were found for hearing level and vowels. Finally, HNR was significantly higher for the HI group than for the NH group, in the female group than the male group, and in non-low vowels than low vowels. Conclusions: Among the acoustic parameters, the results of this study showed that F0 and intensity are distinctive variables for these two groups, but jitter, shimmer, and HNR do not play a role in evaluating the voice quality of the hearing-impaired. This study implies that other parameters besides the stability of vocal cords should be considered when the voice quality of the hearing-impaired is evaluated.

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