Tone production in Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants: a preliminary study

Abstract

A potential speech development deficit was documented in prelingually deafened children with CIs whose native language is a tone language. The imperfect tone production of the implant children, which can be attributed to the paucity of pitch information delivered via the current CI stimulation, may have significant implications for communication using tone languages. Further research is warranted to determine factors that may affect tone development in children with CIs.