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Acoustic and auditory-perceptual parameters of the voice of hearing device users

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To analyze and compare the voice parameters of users of two types of hearing devices (CI and HA) with prelingual and postlingual hearing loss, and verify the influence these hearing devices have on the auditory feedback and voice quality.

Methods

The sample comprised 10 CI-using adults and eight HA-using adults – nine with prelingual and nine with postlingual hearing loss. The auditory-perceptual assessment was conducted with the Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice protocol, as well as acoustic analysis of the voice, with the PRAAT software. The statistical analysis used nonparametric tests, such as the Mann-Whitney U and the Spearman correlation, with a p ≤ 0.05 significance level.

Results

A difference was observed in the sociodemographic characteristics between the groups. Despite the similar results in the voice findings, a significance was observed when comparing the CI and HA groups, regarding the frequencies of the first three formants of some vowels and voice strain. The subjects with prelingual hearing loss had a higher general degree of deviation in the voice and hypernasality.

Conclusion

There was a similarity in the voice parameters of both groups. Hence, it was not possible to infer the impact of the different types of hearing devices analyzed in the acoustic parameters of the voice.

Keywords:
Hearing loss; Voice quality; Cochlear implant; Hearing aids; Speech acoustics

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