Sensory intelligence for extraction of abstract auditory rules from a speech sound stream in children with cochlear implants

Objective

Sensory intelligence in the brain helps listeners automatically extract abstract auditory rules formed by invariant acoustic features from complex speech sound streams, presumably serving as the neural basis for speech comprehension. However, whether this intelligence is deficient in children with cochlear implants (CIs) remains unclear.

Methods

Mandarin Chinese monosyllables shared a flat lexical tone contour to form an abstract auditory rule but differed in other acoustic features to construct a complex speech sound stream. The abstract rule was occasionally violated by monosyllables with a rising or falling lexical tone.

Results

In normal hearing (NH) children, the abstract auditory rule could be extracted, as revealed by a mismatch negativity (MMN) and a late discriminative negativity (LDN). However, the MMN and LDN were only evoked in CI children with good hearing and speech performance. NH children with a higher speech perception or spatial hearing score had a greater MMN. The LDN was attenuated with increasing age in NH children.

Conclusions

The sensory intelligence for extraction of auditory abstract rules, associated with speech perception, is deficient in CI children. This intelligence may gradually develop during childhood and adolescence.

Significance

Deficient sensory intelligence in CI children may aid in understanding poor speech comprehension in complex environments.