Abstract :
A computer-aided Mandarin phonemes training (CAMPT) system was
developed and evaluated for training hearing-impaired students in their
pronunciation of Mandarin phonemes. Deaf or hearing-impaired people have
difficulty hearing their own voice, hence most of them cannot learn how to
speak. Phonemes are the basis for learning to read and speak in Mandarin.
Thus, the main purpose of this study is to use voice-recognition techniques to
develop a Mandarin phoneme training system for the self-training of hearingimpaired
people. The system analyses the spoken Mandarin phoneme of a
hearing-impaired person, compares it with the phonemes database, and shows
the results on the computer monitor. Our CAMPT system helps hearingimpaired
people pronounce Mandarin phonemes, and the system
automatically gives the learner a percentage score for each phoneme. In other
words, learners can receive instant feedback from the system. Experiments
conducted among high school students diagnosed with hearing impairment
revealed that our system can help students learn the Mandarin phonemes with
a neural net recognition algorithm for different users. After five months, most
learners can pronounce 95% of the phonemes correctly
