A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON ANALYSIS OF PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN TAMIL SPEAKING HEARING IMPAIRED CHILDREN WITH COCHLEAR IMPLANTS

Phonological Processes are simplification of sounds which occur among the children during the younger age and will gradually diminish giving an adult like speech form. The aim of the present study is to analyze the occurrence of phonological processes among hearing impaired children who underwent cochlear implant surgery during their younger age as an early intervention. The subjects included in the study were 10 children (5 male and 5 female) who were diagnosed with congenital total hearing impairment and underwent cochlear implant surgery and attending Auditory verbal therapy. The task given to the subjects in the present study is to repeat the words in Tamil Articulation Test followed by the Clinician. The words were recorded and further analyzed for the occurrence of phonological processes. The results show that a total of 26 phonological processes (both typical and atypical) occurred with a maximum occurrence of Depalatalization and minimally of Final Consonant Deletion. The results of the present study help in providing a better knowledge about the occurrence of phonological processes which helps the speech language pathologist in intervening hearing impaired children with cochlear implants and to improve their speech intelligibility.