Enhancing Mandarin Tone and Vowel Recognition in Cochlear Implant Simulation through Combining Task Practice

Purpose: Mandarin tone recognition with cochlear implant simulation can be enhanced via targeted auditory training. However, such training generally does not transfer to different tasks, even when they share the same stimuli. As such, this study investigated whether combined Mandarin tone and vowel recognition training leads to greater improvements in Mandarin tone, vowel, and sentence recognition compared to tone- or vowel- only training. Methods: Twenty-nine native Mandarinspeaking young adults with normal hearing were randomly assigned to one of three training regimens: Tone-Only, Vowel-Only, Tone-Vowel. Mandarin tone, vowel, and sentence recognition were tested before and after training. Results: Tone-Only training improved Mandarin tone recognition but not vowel recognition, while Vowel-Only training improved Mandarin vowel recognition but not tone recognition. The combined Tone-Vowel training improved both tone and vowel recognition. ToneVowel training also led to improvements in Mandarin sentence recognition, although these gains were not significantly greater than those observed in Tone-Only or Vowel-Only groups. Conclusion: These findings suggest that within an equivalent amount of training, combined tone and vowel recognition training enhances both tone and vowel recognition, while tone- or vowel-only training improves the performance in the targeted task alone. Combined tone and vowel recognition may be necessary to achieve improvements in Mandarin tone, vowel, and sentence recognition.