Acoustic characteristics of speech in Fante speakers with hearing loss

Objective: The study compared the acoustic characteristics of speech in Fante speaking school children with moderately severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss to those with normal hearing. Method: Participants were Ghanaian students aged of 10 to 20, with or without hearing loss. Speech samples of monosyllabic words were recorded in an acoustically treated room. Analysis focused on the duration, voice onset time (VOT), and intensity of plosive sounds. Results: Consonant production of participants varied between individuals with and without hearing loss, especially for specific plosives. Participants with normal hearing had slightly longer voicing patterns
compared to those with hearing loss. Participants with hearing loss consistently produced speech with higher maximum intensity values. Notably, /k/, /b/, and /g/ were observed to have the highest intensity values among the sounds. Conclusion: Hearing loss significantly alters the acoustic properties of speech. Individuals with moderately severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss exhibit distinct patterns in speech production that affect VOT, and intensity of consonant articulation