Title of Document: SPEECH RECOGNITION IN NOISE AND INTONATION RECOGNITION IN PRIMARY-SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN, AND PRELIMINARY RESULTS IN CHILDREN WITH COCHLEAR IMPLANTS

Fundamental frequency (F0), or voice pitch, is an important acoustic cue for speech intonation and is perceived most accurately through the fine spectral resolution of the normal human auditory system. However, relatively little is known about how young children process F0-based speech intonation cues. The fine spectral resolution required for F0 information has also been shown to be beneficial for listening in noise, a skill that normally-hearing children are required to use on a daily basis. While it is known that hearing-impaired adults with cochlear implants are at a disadvantage for intonation recognition and listening in noise following loss of fine spectral structure cues, relatively little is known about how young children with unilateral cochlear implants perform in these situations. The goal of the current study was to quantify how a group of twenty normally-hearing children (6-8 years of age) perform in a listening-in-noise task and in a speech intonation recognition task. These skills were also measured in a small group of 5 children of similar age with unilateral cochlear implants (all implanted prior to the age of five). The cochlear implant participants in this stud