Acoustic analysis of voice in children with cochlear implants

Introduction. The focus of this study was the analysis of objective acoustic characteristics of voice in children with cochlear implants. The objective of this study was to compare acoustic parameters of voice in children with cochlear implants and normal hearing children of the same age, and to determine differences, if there were any. Material and Methods. There were 60 children (aged from 6 to 13) included in this prospective study. They were divided into 2 groups: children with cochlear implants (30) and normal hearing children with normal speech development (30). The most stable voice sample was analyzed using a software program Dr Speech: Vocal Assessment. Objective acoustic analysis of voice included 13 acoustic parameters. Results. Standard deviation of fundamental frequency was significantly (p=0.000) higher in children with cochlear implants, as well as the values of harmonic to noise ratio (p=0.003) and signal to noise ratio (p=0.000) parameters. Values of jitter %, shimmer %, normalized noise energy, fundamental frequency tremor and amplitude tremor showed no significant differences between the two groups. However, the values of parameters that refer to voice frequency (habitual fundamental frequency, mean fundamental frequency, min fundamental frequency and max fundamental frequency) and the mean value of voice intensity (p=0.004), were significantly higher in the boys and the girls with cochlear implants than in the normal hearing children. Conclusion. Gender non-related parameters of hoarseness did not show significant differences between the children with cochlear implants and the normal hearing children; the results of cochlear implantation and voice and speech education were therefore positive. However, the children with cochlear implants of both gender showed significantly higher values of voice intensity, voice pitch and insufficient control of voice pitch variation.