Voice Onset Time of Greek Stops Productions by Greek Children with Cochlear Implants and Normal Hearing

Abstract

Introduction: Research on voice onset time (VOT) production of stops in children with CI versus NH has reported conflicting results. Effects of age and place of articulation on VOT have not been examined for children with CI. The purpose of this study was to examine VOT production by Greek-speaking children with CI in comparison to NH controls, with a focus on the effects of age, type of stimuli, and place of articulation.

Methods: Participants were 24 children with CI aged from 2;8 to 13;3 years and 24 age- and gender-matched children with NH. Words were elicited via a picture-naming task, and nonwords were elicited via a fast mapping procedure.

Results: For voiced stops, children with CI showed longer VOT than children with NH, whereas VOT for voiceless stops was similar to that of NH peers. Also, in both voiced and voiceless stops, the VOT differed as a function of age and place of articulation across groups. Differences as a function of stimulus type were only noted for voiced stops across groups.

Conclusions: For the voiced stop consonants, which demand more articulatory effort, VOT production in children with CI was longer than in children with NH. For the voiceless stop consonants, VOT production in children with CI is acquired at a young age.

Keywords: Cochlear implants; Speech production; Voice onset time; Voicing.