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Objective:

Mandarin is a lexical tone language in which four tones are crucial for determining lexical meanings. Acquisition of such a tone system may be challenging to prelingually deaf children with cochlear implants because, as recent studies have shown, cochlear implant devices are ineffective in encoding voice pitch information required for tone recognition. This study aimed to investigate Mandarin tone production and perception skills of children with cochlear implants.

Design:

Thirty prelingually deaf children with cochlear implants, ages 6; 0 (yr; mo) to 12; 6, participated. These children received their implants at an average age of 5; 8, with a range from 2; 3 to 10; 3. The average length of their cochlear implant experience was 3; 7, with a range from 1; 7 to 6; 5. Tasks of tone production and tone identification involved a pictorial protocol of 48 words containing the targeted tones in either monosyllabic or disyllabic …