| 1. |
- Classon, Elisabet, et al.
(author)
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Verbal fluency in adults with postlingually acquired hearing impairment
- 2013
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In: Speech, Language and Hearing. - 2050-571X .- 2050-5728. ; 17:2, s. 88-100
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study examined verbal retrieval in participants with acquired moderate-to-severe sensorineural hearing impairment (M age = 63, M education level = 13 years) compared to participants with normal hearing thresholds (M age = 62, M education level = 14 years) using the letter and category fluency tasks. Analyses of number of words produced, clustering, and switching, were conducted. There was no significant difference between the groups in category fluency performance. In letter fluency, however, the participants with hearing impairment produced significantly fewer words than the normal hearing participants and their production was characterized by fewer switches. Regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between demographic, auditory, and cognitive variables and letter fluency performance in the two groups. Phonological skills and auditory acuity predicted letter fluency output only in participants with hearing impairment and a hearing-related link between phonological skills, working memory capacity, and letter fluency switching was found.
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| 2. |
- Ng, Hoi Ning, Elaine, et al.
(author)
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Relationships between self-report and cognitive measures of hearing aid outcome
- 2013
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In: Speech, Language and Hearing. - : Maney Publishing. - 2050-571X .- 2050-5728. ; 16:4, s. 197-207
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This present study examined the relationship between cognitive measures and self-report hearing aid outcome. A sentence-final word identification and recall (SWIR) test was used to investigate how hearing aid use may relate to experienced explicit cognitive processing. A visually based cognitive test battery was also administered. To measure self-report hearing aid outcome, the International Outcome Inventory – Hearing Aids (IOI-HA) and the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ) were employed. Twenty-six experienced hearing aid users (mean age of 59 years) with symmetrical moderate-tomoderately severe sensorineural hearing loss were recruited. Free recall performance in the SWIR test correlated negatively with item 3 of IOI-HA, which measures residual difficulty in adverse listening situations. Cognitive abilities related to verbal information processing were correlated positively with selfreported hearing aid use and overall success. The present study showed that reported residual difficulty with hearing aid may relate to experienced explicit processing in difficult listening conditions, such that individuals with better cognitive capacity tended to report more remaining difficulty in challenging listening situations. The possibility of using cognitive measures to predict hearing aid outcome in real life should be explored in future research.
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| 3. |
- Stenbäck, Victoria, et al.
(author)
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Executive functions and working memory capacity in speech communication under adverse conditions
- 2016
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In: Speech, Language and Hearing. - : Taylor & Francis. - 2050-571X .- 2050-5728. ; 19:4, s. 218-226
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Introduction: Working memory is assumed to play a major part in hearing and communication in everyday listening situations. Our working memory stores information, but in suboptimal listening conditions, interfering stimuli can lead to information only being partially stored, or even missed. Research suggests that a high working memory capacity (WMC) might not just be a result of a large store, but in addition good inhibitory control can facilitate working memory, and therefore aid in situations where focus on a target stimulus while ignoring distractors is needed.Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate how individual WMC, cognitive inhibition, and lexical decision relate to listening to speech under adverse conditions in two separate groups: 46 young normally hearing (NH) and 40 elderly hearing-impaired (HI) individuals.Results: It showed that lexical access was of little importance for young NH individuals in a speech-in-noise test, but that high lexical decision-making was associated with lower signal-to-noise ratios for the elderly HI individuals. The results also showed that WMC was of importance for word recognition in a speech-in-noise test for elderly participants, when the 80% word recognition criterion was targeted, but not for the young NH individuals. Finally, results suggest that cognitive inhibition, as measured with the Hayling task, was important for young NH individuals when listening conditions are suboptimal.Conclusion: In conclusion, hearing loss is a strong contributing factor to declines in the ability to recognize speech in noise, and in order to assess speech-recognition-in-noise performance, individual differences in WMC and cognitive inhibition should be taken into consideration. Future research should include various age groups, with and without hearing loss, as well as measures of WMC, cognitive inhibition, and lexical access when assessing the ability to listen to speech under adverse conditions.
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| 4. |
- van Bysterveld, Anne, et al.
(author)
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Parents’ and teacher aides’ perceptions and expectations of the language and communication abilities of children with Down syndrome
- 2019
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In: Speech, Language and Hearing. - 2050-571X .- 2050-5728. ; 22:3, s. 160-171
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Children with Down syndrome experience significant and persistent challenges with language and communication and typically receive additional support to facilitate their learning and inclusion at school. This study explored the perceptions and expectations of parents and teacher aides, in relation to language and communication for 10 school-age children with Down syndrome. Individual semi-structured interviews with parents and teacher aides were conducted and thematic analysis undertaken. Results indicated both similarities and differences in the parents’ and teacher aides’ stories. Both groups shared an expectation of further communication and language development and identified speech intelligibility as a barrier to learning and inclusion. However, results revealed a lack of clarity around the teacher aide’s role, responsibility and expertise for the supporting of language and communication of these children at school, and parents indicated dissatisfaction with the speech-language therapy support received. Teacher aides identified their focus on managing behaviour to support social and academic inclusion. We argue for better communication between all stakeholders involved in the ongoing language and communication support of school-age children with Down syndrome.
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| 5. |
- Archer, Brent, et al.
(author)
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Facilitation effects of cueing techniques in two Sesotho speakers with anomia
- 2016
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In: Speech, Language and Hearing. - : Taylor & Francis. - 2050-571X. ; 19:3, s. 140-152
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aphasiologists developing treatments for anomia should closely align therapy methods with the typological and morphological characteristics of the language in question. The lead author initiated this study to develop more defensible interventions for speakers of Sesotho, a South African language. Prefix-based cueing (our alternative name for initial phoneme cueing that describes these cues in Sesotho-oriented terms) was compared to a novel technique, root-based cueing (RBC). While prefix-based cues are described in the literature, we hypothesized root-based cues would be more appropriate in this context since they were thought to be more consonant with the linguistic parameters of Sesotho. Two speakers with aphasia, who demonstrated significant anomic symptoms, served as participants. We used a multiple-baseline, single case study design. Two 144-item word lists were developed with every item represented by a photograph. Each of the two word lists was associated with one of the two cueing techniques investigated. After baseline measurements were obtained, each participant attended eight facilitation sessions for each cueing condition, resulting in eight data points per condition and participant. For both participants, RBC resulted in greater naming performance than cueing by means of initial phonemes. Our explanation of these results is based on the Interactive Lexical Network model of lexical access; root-based cues may be more effective because they more efficiently constrain the number of lemmas activated after a cue is provided. We argue that a confluence of factors (word-retrieval processes and the character of Sesotho morphosyntax) gave rise to the noted differences in naming facilitation.
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| 6. |
- Brännström, Jonas, et al.
(author)
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The influence of voice quality on sentence processing and recall performance in school-age children with normal hearing
- 2018
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In: Speech, Language and Hearing. - 2050-571X. ; 21:1, s. 1-9
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Previous findings suggest that working memory capacity (WMC) is influenced by a dysphonic voice quality. The present study examines the influence of voice quality on sentence processing and word recall in a working memory task. Fifty-seven children (8:1–9:1 years old) with normal hearing participated. Working memory capacity (WMC) was assessed using a competing language processing task (CLPT) which consists of a sentence processing segment (judgements of semantic acceptability in sentences) and a final word recall segment. All children completed two versions of the CLPT; once listening to a typical voice and once listening to a vocally loading induced dysphonic voice. The two voices were recorded from the same female speaker. In addition, the children’s executive functioning was assessed using Elithorn’s mazes. The dysphonic voice quality significantly decreases scores on the sentence processing segment but not on the recall segment. Children with better executive functioning (i.e., response inhibition, organizing, processing, and planning) were less disturbed by the dysphonic voice in the recall segment. Children’s judgements of semantic acceptability in sentences in a working memory task are affected by a dysphonic voice quality, but not the recall segment (the measure of WMC). However, children with lower executive functioning may be more disturbed by the dysphonic voice. These findings suggest that listening to a dysphonic voice seems to require more cognitive resources than listening to a typical voice, but only when the task is sufficiently easy to allow for allocation of cognitive resources to process the degraded signal content. Abbreviations: CLPT: Competing language processing task; ISTS: International speech test signal; RMS: root-mean-square; SLP: speech and language pathologists; WMC: Working memory capacity
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| 7. |
- Larsby, Birgitta, 1950-, et al.
(author)
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The influence of female versus malespeakers’ voice on speech recognitionthresholds in noise: Effects of low and high-frequency hearing impairment
- 2015
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In: Speech, Language and Hearing. - : W.S. Maney & Son Ltd. - 2050-571X. ; 18:2, s. 84-90
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose: To investigate the effect of female versus male speakers’ voice on the ability to recognize speech innoise in two groups of sensorineural hearing-impaired listeners, one group with impairment at lowfrequencies and the other at high frequencies.Method: Eight participants with high-frequency hearing impairments (Hf-HI) and seven with low-frequencyhearing impairments (Lf-HI) participated. Sixteen normal hearing (NH) participants served as reference.The sentences from the hearing in noise test, read by a female or a male speaker, were presentedmonaurally with a background noise. In an adaptive procedure, the mean speech recognition threshold,for 50% correctly recognized sentences, was calculated for the female and male voice and each test subject.Results: The Hf-HI group had significantly greater difference in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) results betweenfemale and male voices. Irrespective of hearing impairment, the female voice required 2.1 dB better SNR.In addition, the NH group showed a small but significant difference in favor of the male voice.Conclusions: Results indicate that speaker gender matters for hearing impaired and NH individuals’ ability torecognize speech in noise.
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| 8. |
- Yumba, Wycliffe, 1967-
(author)
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Influences of listener gender and working memory capacity on speech recognition in noise for hearing aid users
- 2022
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In: Speech, Language and Hearing. - : Taylor & Francis. - 2050-571X. ; 25:2, s. 112-124
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study aimed to: (1) examine the influence of working memory capacity on the ability of experienced hearing aid users to recognize speech in noise using new noise reduction settings, and (2) investigate whether male and female hearing aid users differ in their hearing sensitivity and ability to recognize aided speech in noisy environments. 195 experienced hearing aid users (113 males and 82 females, age range: 33?80 years) from the n200 project were investigated. The Hagerman test (capturing speech recognition in noise) was administered using an experimental hearing aid with two digital signal processing settings: (1) linear amplification without noise reduction (NoP), and (2) linear amplification with noise reduction (NR). Gender differences were analysed using a series of independent samples from t-tests on Hagerman sentence scores, and the pure-tone average thresholds across the frequencies 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000?Hz (PTA4) for the left ear and right ear were measured. Working memory capacity (WMC) was measured using a reading span test. A WMC grouping (high and low) was included as a between-group subject factor in the within-group factors ANOVA, NR settings (Nop, NR), noise type (steady state noise, four -talker babble), and level of performance (50%, 80%). Male listeners had better pure-tone thresholds than female listeners at frequencies 500 and 1000?Hz, whereas female listeners had better pure-tone thresholds at 4000?Hz. Female listeners showed significantly better speech recognition ability than male listeners on the Hagerman test with NR , but not with NoP . This gender difference was more pronounced at the 80% performance level than at the 50% level. WMC had a significant effect on speech recognition ability, and there was a two-way interaction between WMC grouping and level of performance. The examination of simple main effects revealed superior performance of listeners with higher WMC at 80% using new NR settings. WMC, rather than background noise, was the main factor influencing performance at 80%, while at 50%, background noise was the main factor. WMC was associated with speech recognition performance even after accounting for hearing sensitivity (PTA4). This is the first study to demonstrate that experienced male and female hearing aid users differ significantly in their hearing ability and sensitivity and ability to recognize aided speech in noise. Thus, the average female listener has a greater speech recognition ability than the average male listener when linear amplification with NR is applied, but not when NoP is activated. An average female listener hears a given sound with greater sensitivity compared with an average male listener at higher frequencies. WMC is an important factor in speech recognition in more challenging listening conditions (i.e., lower signal?noise ratio) for experienced hearing aid users using new NR settings. More investigation is needed for a better understanding of how gender affects the ability of listeners less experienced with hearing aids (such as younger and elderly hearing-impaired listeners) to recognize speech amplified with different signal processing, as gender differences may vary based on numerous factors, including the speaker?s gender and age.
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