Word- and segment-level nasalance patterns in Greek-learning children with and without cochlear implants

Following cochlear implantation, variability in oral-nasal balance can persist across and within speakers with early severe-to-profound hearing loss. We assessed nasalance in 23 Greek-speaking children who had cochlear implants (CI, <i>N</i> = 13) and normal hearing (NH, <i>N</i> = 10) producing words with initial /m n b d p t/. We compared group differences, via Mann-Whitney U tests, in nasalance and duration at word, segmental, and sub-segmental levels, and age effects via Spearman correlations. Compared to NH children, those with CIs showed longer durations; higher nasalance in all words combined and in /b, d/, which may be prenasalized in Greek; and elevated token-to-token variability in nasalance and duration. Prenasalization appears to be a strategy for producing stop closure voicing in those with CIs, similar to what has been documented in younger NH children learning Greek. Extensive individual variability in nasalance patterns suggests that speaker-specific data are a valuable addition to group-level results.