THE EFFECTS OF AGE AND HEARING-LOSS ON TASKS OF PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF INTONATION

This study aimed to investigate the effects of age and hearing status on tasks of perception and production of intonation. The sample includ ed 21 normally-hearing and 42 severely to profoundly hearing-impaired children of two age groups (5.0-6.5 years and 9-12 years). The tasks c onsisted of imitation of 'intonation contours carried on nonsense syll ables, discrimination of intonation contours, reading/imitation of sen tences with various intonation contours, and elicited spontaneous spee ch. Acoustical analyses were conducted to assess production performanc e. In imitating intonation carried on nonsense syllables, only hearing loss was found to affect performance. In the elicited spontaneous spe ech condition, both age and hearing loss affected intonation performan ce. Nevertheless, the older hearing-impaired children were similar to their hearing peers in the production of some intonation contours in s pontaneous speech. Discussion focused on the significant learning proc ess occurring among the hearing impaired during ages 6-9 years with re gard to intonation production. In general, the production of the risin g contour was more difficult than the falling contour.