Acoustic explanation of fundamental frequency of onset in initial plosives by cochlear-implanted children and normal hearings

Fundamental frequency (F0) of onset is a reliable acoustic cue of voicing differences in plosive consonants. The purpose of present study was to acoustically analyze of the F0 amount of oral plosive consonants in the initial position of words in cochlear-implanted children and normal hearings. In this study, the F0 of onset was measured in the speech production of 47 prelingual deaf children who were cochlear implanted about 61 months before the test (range: 47-76 months, SD: 8.6) and the results were compared with 60 normal hearing children who were 60 months old (range: 49-73, SD: 6.5). Using repeated measurement tests, it was shown that in all places of articulation, the amount of F0 of onset in voiceless plosives was higher than that of voiced ones, because of the low position of larynx and hyoid bone in voiced plosives. On the other hand, in most cases, the F0 of cochlear-implanted children was lower than that of normal hearings; and in voiced plosives, there were significant differences (p=0.005) between cochlear implanted and normal hearing children. There was not any significant difference between the F0 of onset in girls and boys. In all places of articulation, the mean amount of F0 of onset for voiceless plosives was higher than that of voiced plosives. There was significant difference between F0 of onset in cochlear implanted and normal hearing children.