Eliciting Naturalistic Conversations: A Method for Assessing Communication Ability, Subjective Experience, and the Impacts of Noise and Hearing Impairment

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 470-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Beechey ◽  
Jörg M. Buchholz ◽  
Gitte Keidser
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Impairment ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Communication Task ◽  
Interactive Nature ◽  
Balanced Contributions ◽  
Communication Ability ◽  
Puzzle Task

Purpose The purpose of this study was to introduce a method of eliciting conversational behavior with many aspects of realism, which may be used to study the impacts of hearing impairment and noise on verbal communication; to describe the characteristics of speech and language participants produced during the task; and to assess participants' engagement and motivation while completing the task. Method Twenty young adults with normal hearing and 20 older adults with hearing impairment took part in face-to-face conversations while completing a referential communication puzzle task designed to elicit natural conversational speech production and language with a number of realistic characteristics. Participants rated the difficulty and relevance of acoustic scenes for communication and their engagement in conversations. Results The communication task elicited speech production in a natural conversational register and language with many realistic characteristics, including complex linguistic constructions and typical disfluencies found in everyday speech, and approximately balanced contributions within dyads. Subjective ratings suggest that the task is robust to learning and fatigue effects and that participants remained highly engaged throughout the experiment. All participants were able to maintain successful communication regardless of background noise level and degree of hearing impairment. Conclusions The communication task described here may be used as part of a functional assessment of the ability to communicate in the presence of noise and hearing impairment. Although existing speech assessments have many strengths, they do not take into account the inherently interactive nature of spoken communication or the effects of motivation and engagement.

Hearing Aid Amplification Reduces Communication Effort of People With Hearing Impairment and Their Conversation Partners

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 1299-1311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Beechey ◽  
Jörg M. Buchholz ◽  
Gitte Keidser
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Impairment ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Directional Hearing ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Communication Task ◽  
Acoustic Environments ◽  
The Impact

Objectives This study investigates the hypothesis that hearing aid amplification reduces effort within conversation for both hearing aid wearers and their communication partners. Levels of effort, in the form of speech production modifications, required to maintain successful spoken communication in a range of acoustic environments are compared to earlier reported results measured in unaided conversation conditions. Design Fifteen young adult normal-hearing participants and 15 older adult hearing-impaired participants were tested in pairs. Each pair consisted of one young normal-hearing participant and one older hearing-impaired participant. Hearing-impaired participants received directional hearing aid amplification, according to their audiogram, via a master hearing aid with gain provided according to the NAL-NL2 fitting formula. Pairs of participants were required to take part in naturalistic conversations through the use of a referential communication task. Each pair took part in five conversations, each of 5-min duration. During each conversation, participants were exposed to one of five different realistic acoustic environments presented through highly open headphones. The ordering of acoustic environments across experimental blocks was pseudorandomized. Resulting recordings of conversational speech were analyzed to determine the magnitude of speech modifications, in terms of vocal level and spectrum, produced by normal-hearing talkers as a function of both acoustic environment and the degree of high-frequency average hearing impairment of their conversation partner. Results The magnitude of spectral modifications of speech produced by normal-hearing talkers during conversations with aided hearing-impaired interlocutors was smaller than the speech modifications observed during conversations between the same pairs of participants in the absence of hearing aid amplification. Conclusions The provision of hearing aid amplification reduces the effort required to maintain communication in adverse conditions. This reduction in effort provides benefit to hearing-impaired individuals and also to the conversation partners of hearing-impaired individuals. By considering the impact of amplification on both sides of dyadic conversations, this approach contributes to an increased understanding of the likely impact of hearing impairment on everyday communication.

scholarly journals Multimodality and the origin of a novel communication system in face-to-face interaction

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 182056
Author(s):  
Vinicius Macuch Silva ◽  
Judith Holler ◽  
Asli Ozyurek ◽  
Seán G. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Communication System ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Primary Role ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Multimodal Signals ◽  
Communication Task ◽  
Comparable Accuracy ◽  
Visual Signalling

Face-to-face communication is multimodal at its core: it consists of a combination of vocal and visual signalling. However, current evidence suggests that, in the absence of an established communication system, visual signalling, especially in the form of visible gesture, is a more powerful form of communication than vocalization and therefore likely to have played a primary role in the emergence of human language. This argument is based on experimental evidence of how vocal and visual modalities (i.e. gesture) are employed to communicate about familiar concepts when participants cannot use their existing languages. To investigate this further, we introduce an experiment where pairs of participants performed a referential communication task in which they described unfamiliar stimuli in order to reduce reliance on conventional signals. Visual and auditory stimuli were described in three conditions: using visible gestures only, using non-linguistic vocalizations only and given the option to use both (multimodal communication). The results suggest that even in the absence of conventional signals, gesture is a more powerful mode of communication compared with vocalization, but that there are also advantages to multimodality compared to using gesture alone. Participants with an option to produce multimodal signals had comparable accuracy to those using only gesture, but gained an efficiency advantage. The analysis of the interactions between participants showed that interactants developed novel communication systems for unfamiliar stimuli by deploying different modalities flexibly to suit their needs and by taking advantage of multimodality when required.

Hearing Impairment Increases Communication Effort During Conversations in Noise

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 305-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Beechey ◽  
Jörg M. Buchholz ◽  
Gitte Keidser
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Impairment ◽  
Feedback System ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Dynamic Feedback ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Communication Task ◽  
Acoustic Environments ◽  
Conversation Partner

Purpose This article describes patterns of speech modifications produced by talkers as a function of the degree of hearing impairment of communication partners during naturalistic conversations in noise. An explanation of observed speech modifications is proposed in terms of a generalization of the concept of effort. This account complements existing theories of listening effort by extending the concept of effort to the domain of interactive communication. Method Twenty young adult normal hearing participants and 20 older adult hearing-impaired participants were tested in pairs. Each pair consisted of 1 young normal hearing participant and 1 older hearing-impaired participant. Pairs of participants took part in naturalistic conversations through the use of a referential communication task. Each pair completed a 5-min conversation in each of 5 different realistic acoustic environments. Results Talkers modified their speech, in terms of level and spectrum, in a gradient manner reflecting both the acoustic environment and the degree of hearing impairment of their conversation partner. All pairs of participants were able to maintain communication across all acoustic environments regardless of degree of hearing impairment and the level of environmental noise. Contrasting effects of noise and hearing impairment on speech production revealed distinct patterns of speech modifications produced by normal hearing and hearing-impaired talkers during conversation. This may reflect the fact that only the speech modifications produced by normal hearing talkers functioned to compensate for the hearing impairment of a conversation partner. Conclusions The data presented support the concept of communication effort as a dynamic feedback system between conversation participants. Additionally, these results provide insight into the nature of realistic speech signals, which are encountered by people with hearing impairment in everyday communication scenarios.

Partner-Specific Communication Deficits in Individuals With Alzheimer's Disease

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Eun Jin Paek ◽  
Si On Yoon
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Sorting Task ◽  
Audience Design ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Communication Task ◽  
Design Skills ◽  
Referential Expressions

Purpose Speakers adjust referential expressions to the listeners' knowledge while communicating, a phenomenon called “audience design.” While individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show difficulties in discourse production, it is unclear whether they exhibit preserved partner-specific audience design. The current study examined if individuals with AD demonstrate partner-specific audience design skills. Method Ten adults with mild-to-moderate AD and 12 healthy older adults performed a referential communication task with two experimenters (E1 and E2). At first, E1 and participants completed an image-sorting task, allowing them to establish shared labels. Then, during testing, both experimenters were present in the room, and participants described images to either E1 or E2 (randomly alternating). Analyses focused on the number of words participants used to describe each image and whether they reused shared labels. Results During testing, participants in both groups produced shorter descriptions when describing familiar images versus new images, demonstrating their ability to learn novel knowledge. When they described familiar images, healthy older adults modified their expressions depending on the current partner's knowledge, producing shorter expressions and more established labels for the knowledgeable partner (E1) versus the naïve partner (E2), but individuals with AD were less likely to do so. Conclusions The current study revealed that both individuals with AD and the control participants were able to acquire novel knowledge, but individuals with AD tended not to flexibly adjust expressions depending on the partner's knowledge state. Conversational inefficiency and difficulties observed in AD may, in part, stem from disrupted audience design skills.

Referential Communication Abilities of Learning Disabled Children

1980 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 70-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret M. Noel
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Communication Competence ◽  
Learning Disabled ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Communication Effectiveness ◽  
Language Function ◽  
Disabled Children ◽  
Communication Ability ◽  
General Communication

Disorders of spoken language have long been associated with learning disabilities. Recent research has focused less on linguistic characteristics and more on general communication effectiveness. This study investigated the referential communication ability of LD and non-LD elementary students. Developmental research has indicated that this language function tends to be well developed by early childhood and is a major precursor of later communication competence. Results of the present study indicated that LD students were less effective in providing descriptive information about objects than non-LD peers. Further analysis of LD communication revealed that such a lack of effectiveness was due to the LD students' limited use of labeling in their verbal descriptions.

scholarly journals Children's Acoustic and Linguistic Adaptations to Peers With Hearing Impairment

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 1055-1069 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Granlund ◽  
Valerie Hazan ◽  
Merle Mahon
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Impairment ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Frequency Range ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Problem Solving Task ◽  
Do So

Purpose This study aims to examine the clear speaking strategies used by older children when interacting with a peer with hearing loss, focusing on both acoustic and linguistic adaptations in speech. Method The Grid task, a problem-solving task developed to elicit spontaneous interactive speech, was used to obtain a range of global acoustic and linguistic measures. Eighteen 9- to 14-year-old children with normal hearing (NH) performed the task in pairs, once with a friend with NH and once with a friend with a hearing impairment (HI). Results In HI-directed speech, children increased their fundamental frequency range and midfrequency intensity, decreased the number of words per phrase, and expanded their vowel space area by increasing F1 and F2 range, relative to NH-directed speech. However, participants did not appear to make changes to their articulation rate, the lexical frequency of content words, or lexical diversity when talking to their friend with HI compared with their friend with NH. Conclusions Older children show evidence of listener-oriented adaptations to their speech production; although their speech production systems are still developing, they are able to make speech adaptations to benefit the needs of a peer with HI, even without being given a specific instruction to do so. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.6118817

‘I've never given it a thought’: older men's experiences with and perceptions of ageism during interactions with physicians

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Hazel MacRae
Keyword(s):  
Older Patients ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Older Men ◽  
Large Majority ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Medical Encounter ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Negative Stereotyping

Abstract The subjective experience of ageism among older men has received little research attention. This study examines older Canadian men's experiences with and perceptions of ageism during interactions with physicians. In-depth, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 21 men aged 55 years and over. The findings indicate a seeming lack of awareness of ageism among many, and many did not believe ageism was likely to occur during patient–physician interaction. Negative stereotyping of older patients was common. A large majority of the participants reported that they had not personally experienced ageism during a medical encounter, nor were they concerned about it. Numerous rationales were proffered as explanations of why a particular participant had not experienced ageism and who was more likely to be a target.

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