Speech motor adaptation in adults with profound hearing loss
Sazzad M. Nasir & David J. Ostry Department of Psychology, McGill
Abstract
It is a puzzle how post-lingually deaf speakers, despite hearing loss, maintain speech intelligibility. Somatosensory input may possibly provide the needed sensory support for intelligible speech. In this study we assessed the role of somatosensory feedback in speech production in cochlear-implanted subjects who were tested with their implants turned off. We used a robotic device to alter speech movements, and hence somatosensory feedback, by delivering mechanical loads to the jaw. We found that even with limited training subjects adapted to the loads. Thus, somatosensory input mediates speech movements and hence, presumably also aids in maintaining speech intelligibility, in deaf adults.
