Changes to voice production caused by long-term hearing loss (HL)

A new procedure of vowel acoustic space (VAS) transformation for the purpose of characterization of vowel production in individuals with HL was developed. Recordings of sustained Russian cardinal vowels /a/, /i/, /u/ of 5 women (4 with HL and 1 without HL) and 5 men (3 with HL and 2 without HL) were acoustically analyzed. For each participant, two first formants of each vowel were measured and log-transformed (logF1, logF2). VAS was transformed into right triangles, their /u/ corners were moved to the origin, and their legs were aligned with axes. VAS was almost symmetrical, equal and have a maximum size in the control group consisted of subjects with no HL while these of hearing-impaired group tended to have reduced size and to stretch along one axis. Our study showed that a new VAS normalization approach can distinguish at least three groups of people with HL. There are those with vowel triangles stretched along logF1-axis, with vowel triangles stretched along logF2-axis, and with symmetrical vowel triangles. Causes of the VAS differences require further investigation. © 2019 FUP,