Work

The influence of emotional prosody on mandarin tone perception by children with cochlear implants

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This study investigated whether emotional prosody influences Mandarin lexical tone perception in children with cochlear implants (CIs) and whether audiovisual presentation facilitates tone perception in quiet and noisy environments. Thirty children with CIs (aged 4–6 years) and 30 age-matched NH children completed a two-alternative forced-choice tone identification task. Target words were produced with angry, happy, and neutral prosody and presented in audio-only (AO) and audiovisual (AV) conditions in quiet and noisy environment. In the CI group, emotional prosody significantly affected tone identification in quiet environment. Accuracy was lower for angry prosody than for happy and neutral prosody, whereas happy and neutral prosody did not differ. No significant effect of emotion was found in noise. In the noisy environment, tone identification was significantly more accurate in the AV than in the AO condition. In the NH group, no significant effects of emotion or modality were observed in quiet environment, whereas AV presentation improved tone identification in noise. These findings indicate that emotional prosody can affect Mandarin tone perception in children with CIs in quiet environment. Visual information provides additional support for tone perception when auditory input is degraded by noise.

Source: Language and Health

DOI: 10.1016/j.laheal.2026.100102

Authors: Wenyu Xiang, Ping Tang

Institution: Nanjing University of Science and Technology

Language: English

Topic: Hearing Loss and Rehabilitation

Subfield: Speech and Hearing

Field: Health Professions

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,600