Title: The effectiveness of the Intonation Meter for teaching intonation to deaf persons
Abstract: Prelingually, profoundly deaf speakers frequently experience problems in generating a proper intonation. For this reason several attempts have been made to improve their intonation with the help of visual intonation-display systems. A system has been developed, called the Intonation Meter, in which visual feedback of intonation is given as a continuous representation of the pitch contour containing only the perceptually relevant aspects of the intonation pattern. Two exploratory studies were carried out to determine the effectiveness of the Intonation Meter for teaching intonation to prelingually profoundly deaf children aged 6 to 18 years. The results indicate that the Intonation Meter can be an effective tool for teaching intonation to older children, i.e. children of nine years and older. Furthermore, younger children (i.e. 6–7-year-olds) receiving intonation training progressed well, irrespective of whether or not the Intonation Meter was used.