A Comparison of Phonological Process between Normal Children and Children with Cochlear Implants

In this study, we investigated the percentage of correct consonants(PCC) and phonological processes according to sound position within a word, manner of articulation, and place of articulation comparing normal children with children with cochlear implants(CI). Sixteen children with CI for more than one year and 16 normal children with consistent PCC were examined using the ‘Korean Test of Articulation for Children.’ The number of children with phonological processes more than twice and the frequency of occurrence in terms of phonological processes were investigated between the CI and the normal children. Also, the number of children with developmental or non-developmental phonological processes and the frequency of occurrence in terms of phonological processes were compared between the two groups. Each subject group of CI and normal children with consistent average PCC were further divided into two sub-groups: one with PCC above 80% and the other with PCC under 80%. Then, the developmental phonological processes and non-developmental phonological processes of these groups were subsequently compared. From a comparison of PCC, the CI children showed significantly higher PCC than the normal children in fricatives. From a comparison of phonological processes, the normal children significantly had higher frequency of tensing while the CI children had higher frequency of laxing, which is in contrast to tensing. From a comparison of phonological processes between the groups, the normal children rarely showed non-developmental phonological processes while the CI children showed various processes such as the omission of the initial syllable, lenition, glottalization, and denasalization. In particular, the group with CI and low PCC showed significantly higher frequency of non-developmental phonological processes.ope