Auditory brainstem implantation in children: the case of place of articulation

This study aimed to investigate the development of the production of place of articulation of three children with auditory brainstem implants (ABI) in spontaneous speech production. The main participants were three children implanted with an ABI. They were compared against two different control groups: children with a cochlear implant (CI) and children with normal hearing (NH). Data was obtained fromspontaneous speech between the children and their caregivers. For each word production, the place of articulation of both the target word as the child’s own production was identified. This was broadly identified in three categories: labial, coronal and dorsal. The analysis revealed that in general, the coronal place of articulation was most used in all children’s own production, as well as in the target words, except for one child with ABI, who showed a preference for labials. In terms of accuracy, labial place of articulation was produced more accurately than the coronal place of articulation for all children. The dorsal place of articulation had very low accuracy probabilities. Children with ABI had the lowest accuracy rates. When the place of articulation was not correctly produced, they were often omitted instead of replaced by another place of articulation. It was concluded that the children with ABI benefit from their device, but still have a long way to go to catch up to their peers. It is suggested that sign language is needed to guarantee smooth communication.  Keywords: auditory brainstem implantation; pediatric; oral language, place of articulation;labial; coronal; dorsal