Predicting consonant recognition in quiet for listeners with normal hearing and hearing impairment using an auditory model.

2009 ◽  
Vol 125 (4) ◽  
pp. 2533-2533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Jürgens ◽  
Thomas Brand ◽  
Birger Kollmeier
2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 1299-1311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Beechey ◽  
Jörg M. Buchholz ◽  
Gitte Keidser

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.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Imran Jivraj ◽  
Chris J. Rudnisky ◽  
Emmanuel Tambe ◽  
Graham Tipple ◽  
Matthew T. S. Tennant

Purpose. Congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) is a global cause of preventable hearing impairment, blindness, and intellectual impairment. The present study sought to identify ocular and auditory manifestations of CRS in school-aged children in Mbingo, Cameroon.Design. Cross sectional study.Subjects. Students at two schools, one for children with hearing impairment, were screened for cataract, congenital glaucoma, and pigmentary retinopathy.Methods. Students underwent seven-field digital fundus photography through a dilated pupil using a Topcon NW200 nonmydriatic camera. Images were assessed by retina specialists in Canada via teleophthalmology. Clinical evidence was integrated to form case definitions for CRS based on Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Serological evidence of rubella infection was obtained using standardized IgG antibody titers.Main Outcome Measure. Number of probable and suspicious cases of CRS.Results. Between September 2009 and May 2010, 320 students participated. There were 28 (10.2%) probable cases, 104 (37.8%) suspects, and 143 (52.0%) unaffected. Rubella IgG serology was positive in 79 (48.7%) of children with hearing impairment and 11 (7.4%) of children with normal hearing.Conclusions. The present study identified 28 probable cases of CRS. Furthermore, 92.6% of students with normal hearing did not possess rubella IgG antibodies making future cases of CRS likely without intervention.


2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 310-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARCEL R. GIEZEN ◽  
PAOLA ESCUDERO ◽  
ANNE E. BAKER

AbstractThis study investigates the role of acoustic salience and hearing impairment in learning phonologically minimal pairs. Picture-matching and object-matching tasks were used to investigate the learning of consonant and vowel minimal pairs in five- to six-year-old deaf children with a cochlear implant (CI), and children of the same age with normal hearing (NH). In both tasks, the CI children showed clear difficulties with learning minimal pairs. The NH children also showed some difficulties, however, particularly in the picture-matching task. Vowel minimal pairs were learned more successfully than consonant minimal pairs, particularly in the object-matching task. These results suggest that the ability to encode phonetic detail in novel words is not fully developed at age six and is affected by task demands and acoustic salience. CI children experience persistent difficulties with accurately mapping sound contrasts to novel meanings, but seem to benefit from the relative acoustic salience of vowel sounds.


2013 ◽  
Vol 131 (5) ◽  
pp. 289-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Endo Amemiya ◽  
Barbara Niegia Garcia Goulart ◽  
Brasilia Maria Chiari

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Nouns and verbs indicate actions in oral communication. However, hearing impairment can compromise the acquisition of oral language to such an extent that appropriate use of these can be challenging. The objective of this study was to compare the use of nouns and verbs in the oral narrative of hearing-impaired and hearing children. DESIGN AND SETTING: Analytical cross-sectional study at the Department of Speech-Language and Hearing Sciences, Universidade Federal de São Paulo. METHODS: Twenty-one children with moderate to profound bilateral neurosensory hearing impairment and twenty-one with normal hearing (controls) were matched according to sex, school year and school type. A board showing pictures was presented to each child, to elicit a narrative and measure their performance in producing nouns and verbs. RESULTS: Twenty-two (52.4%) of the subjects were males. The mean age was 8 years (standard deviation, SD = 1.5). Comparing averages between the groups of boys and girls, we did not find any significant difference in their use of nouns, but among verbs, there was a significant difference regarding use of the imperative (P = 0.041): more frequent among boys (mean = 2.91). There was no significant difference in the use of nouns and verbs between deaf children and hearers, in relation to school type. Regarding use of the indicative, there was a nearly significant trend (P = 0.058). CONCLUSION: Among oralized hearing-impaired children who underwent speech therapy, their performance regarding verbs and noun use was similar to that of their hearing counterparts.


1984 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shlomo Silman ◽  
Carol Ann Silverman ◽  
Theresa Showers ◽  
Stanley A. Gelfand

The effect of age on accuracy of prediction of hearing impairment with the bivariate-plotting procedure was investigated in 72 normal-hearing subjects aged 20–69 years and in 86 sensorineural hearing-impaired subjects aged 20–83 years. The predictive accuracy with the bivariate-plotting procedure improved markedly when the data from subjects over 44 years of age were excluded from the bivariate plot. The predictive accuracy improved further when the construction of the line segments in the traditional bivariate plot was modified.


2002 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tova Most

Purpose: This study examined how students with hearing impairments, having different levels of speech intelligibility, responded to a communication breakdown as compared to students with normal hearing. Method: Participants included 16 students with profound hearing impairment who were assessed as having age-appropriate expressive language (8 with good speech intelligibility and 8 with poor speech intelligibility) and 10 students with normal hearing, ages 11–18 years. The students’ task was to describe pictures and to respond to a series of three clarification requests ("Huh?," "What?," and "I didn’t understand") presented by the examiner. Results: Repetition was the most frequently used strategy by all groups. However, significant differences emerged in the use of other repair strategies among the three groups. The group’s choice of strategies across the three requests also differed significantly. Clinical Implications: Although the groups evidenced similar levels of age-appropriate expressive language, they appeared to differ in its pragmatic use. It was suggested that strategy training programs should consider the speech intelligibility of the speaker and be tailored according to individual needs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 316-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalie Boonen ◽  
Hanne Kloots ◽  
Jo Verhoeven ◽  
Steven Gillis

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