Chinese disyllables tone perceptual characteristics and the effect of stimulation rate on tone recognition in cochlear implants

The aim was to investigate the perceptual characteristics of Chinese tones in continuous speech, and the effect of stimulation rate on Chinese tone recognition for cochlear implant users. Chinese disyllables were used as test materials to measure the performance on 16 tonal patterns recognition with different stimulation rates (250, 720, 900, 1200 and 1800 pps) for cochlear implant users. The results showed that the tone recognition score of Chinese disyllables with the high stimulation rate of 1800 pps was significantly higher than that with the low stimulation rate of 250 pps, and the tone recognition score in the later syllables was significantly higher than that in the former ones. In addition, it was easier to recognize Tone 1, Tone 3 and Tone 4 in the later syllables, and more difficult to identify Tone 2 and Tone 3 in the former syllables for cochlear implant users.