Most studies on speech production by the hearing-impaired have Seen focused on the monophthong. Virtually, no previous studies have been done regarding acoustic characteristics of diphthongs for hearing-impaired children in Korean. The purpose of this...
Most studies on speech production by the hearing-impaired have Seen focused on the monophthong. Virtually, no previous studies have been done regarding acoustic characteristics of diphthongs for hearing-impaired children in Korean. The purpose of this thesis was to compare the diphthongs which are produced by hearing-impaired (N= 10, aged 5∼7) and normal hearing children(N=lO, aged 5∼7).
An experimental phonetic analysis of the diphthong(/ja, j□, j□, ju, wi, w□, □i/) was conducted in terms of LPC (Linear Predictive Coding) using CSL (Computerized Speech Lab 4400). Recordings were made at natural speed in a quiet room. The subjects were asked to read a list of nine nonsense syllables containing nine diphthongs each five times in a frame (h + diphthong + da) with the interval of five seconds, respectively. The total duration of each diphthong was measure in four different timepoints. The major findings in this study can be summarized as follows:
First, the mean fundamental frequency of /ja, j□, j□, ju, wi, w□, □i/ produced by hearing-impaired children of the nonsense syllables was 313.5Hz. The mean of diphthongs for F2 and F3 were nearly that of monophthongs as in the previous studies. The frequency of diphthongs was measured on four different time points. When the subjects elicited /ja,w□, □i/, the frequency of the second and third time points were erratic. However, the frequency first and fourth time points consistently had very similar values of measurements.
Second, /ja, ja, ju/ were considerable differences at F1 and /j□, ju/ were considerable differences between hearing-impaired and normal hearing children at F2. There were considerable differences between j-group( /ja, j□, j□, ju/) and w-group(/wε, w□, □i/) at F2. When the analyses of diphthongs for transition of each time point, all diphthongs showed considerable differences in a irregular manner.
These acoustic data can give some meaningful guidelines for evaluating and treating the hearing impaired children's intonation patterns.