Development of a test for assessment of the lipreading ability for children in the Arabic-speaking countries

Abstract Background Lipreading is considered an important skill that varies considerably among normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) children. It is well known that normal-hearing children use audition as the primary sensory modality for speech perception, whereas HI children use lipreading cues as the primary sensory modality for speech perception. Moreover, speech perception is a multisensory process that involves attention to auditory signals as well as visual articulatory movements, and the integration of auditory and visual signals occurs naturally and automatically in normal individuals of all ages. Most researches proved that lipreading is a natural and important skill needed for language acquisition in HI children. Lipreading also helps HI children to perceive speech, acquire spoken language, and acquire phonology. In the Arabic language, tools are deficient for assessing the lipreading ability for HI children, so this study was conducted to develop a test suitable for assessing the lipreading ability of hearing-impaired children among Arabic-speaking countries. The constructed lipreading test was administered to 160 Arabic-speaking Egyptian children including 100 typically developing NH children and 60 HI children. Participants’ responses were statistically analyzed to assess the validity and reliability and to compare the lipreading ability between the NH and HI children. Ranks of percentiles were established to provide an estimate of the lipreading ability in children. Results Statistically significant differences were found between the normal-hearing and HI children as regards all subtotal and total scores of the Arabic lipreading test, with good validity and reliability of the test. Conclusions The Arabic lipreading test is a valid and reliable test that can be applied to assess the lipreading ability among Arabic-speaking children with HI.

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Comparison between lip-reading ability in normal and hearing impaired children

QJM ◽

10.1093/qjmed/hcaa047.014 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 113 (Supplement_1) ◽

Author(s):

A M Saad ◽

M A Hegazi ◽

M S Khodeir

Keyword(s):

Speech Perception ◽

Reading Ability ◽

Sensory Modality ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Hearing Impaired ◽

Lip Reading ◽

Hearing Children ◽

Age Range ◽

Impaired Children ◽

Hearing Impaired Children

Abstract Background Lip-reading is considered an important skill which varies considerably among normal hearing and hearing impaired (HI) children. It helps HI children to perceive speech, acquire spoken language and acquire phonological awareness. Speech perception is considered to be a multisensory process that involves attention to auditory signals as well as visual articulatory movements. Integration of auditory and visual signals occurs naturally and automatically in normal individuals across all ages. Many researches suggested that normal hearing children use audition as the primary sensory modality for speech perception, whereas HI children use lip-reading cues as the primary sensory modality for speech perception. Aim of the Work The aim of this study is to compare the lip-reading ability between normal and HI children. Participants and methods This is a comparative descriptive case control study. It was applied on 60 hearing impaired children (cases) and 60 normal hearing children (controls) of the same age and gender. The age range was (3-8 years). The Egyptian Arabic Lip-reading Test was applied to all children. Results There was statistically significant difference between the total mean scores of the EALRT between normal and HI children. Conclusion The results of the study proved that normal children are better lip-readers than HI children of the matched age range.

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Visual Biasing of Normal and Impaired Auditory Speech Perception

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jshr.3301.163 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 33 (1) ◽

pp. 163-173 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Brian E. Walden ◽

Allen A. Montgomery ◽

Robert A. Prosek ◽

David B. Hawkins

Keyword(s):

Speech Perception ◽

Hearing Impairment ◽

Visual Cues ◽

Sensory Modality ◽

Stop Consonant ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Hearing Impaired ◽

Auditory Speech

Intersensory biasing occurs when cues in one sensory modality influence the perception of discrepant cues in another modality. Visual biasing of auditory stop consonant perception was examined in two related experiments in an attempt to clarify the role of hearing impairment on susceptibility to visual biasing of auditory speech perception. Fourteen computer-generated acoustic approximations of consonant-vowel syllables forming a /ba-da-ga/ continuum were presented for labeling as one of the three exemplars, via audition alone and in synchrony with natural visual articulations of /ba/ and of /ga/. Labeling functions were generated for each test condition showing the percentage of /ba/, /da/, and /ga/ responses to each of the 14 synthetic syllables. The subjects of the first experiment were 15 normal-hearing and 15 hearing-impaired observers. The hearing-impaired subjects demonstrated a greater susceptibility to biasing from visual cues than did the normal-hearing subjects. In the second experiment, the auditory stimuli were presented in a low-level background noise to 15 normal-hearing observers. A comparison of their labeling responses with those from the first experiment suggested that hearing-impaired persons may develop a propensity to rely on visual cues as a result of long-term hearing impairment. The results are discussed in terms of theories of intersensory bias.

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Second Formant Transitions of Selected Consonant-Vowel Combinations in the Speech of Deaf and Normal-Hearing Children

Journal of Speech and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jshr.1902.279 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

pp. 279-289 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Randall B. Monsen

Keyword(s):

Speech Intelligibility ◽

Normal Subjects ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Hearing Impaired ◽

Acoustic Cues ◽

Target Frequency ◽

Second Formant ◽

Hearing Children

Although it is well known that the speech produced by the deaf is generally of low intelligibility, the sources of this low speech intelligibility have generally been ascribed either to aberrant articulation of phonemes or inappropriate prosody. This study was designed to determine to what extent a nonsegmental aspect of speech, formant transitions, may differ in the speech of the deaf and of the normal hearing. The initial second formant transitions of the vowels /i/ and /u/ after labial and alveolar consonants (/b, d, f/) were compared in the speech of six normal-hearing and six hearing-impaired adolescents. In the speech of the hearing-impaired subjects, the second formant transitions may be reduced both in time and in frequency. At its onset, the second formant may be nearer to its eventual target frequency than in the speech of the normal subjects. Since formant transitions are important acoustic cues for the adjacent consonants, reduced F 2 transitions may be an important factor in the low intelligibility of the speech of the deaf.

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Intelligibility of Modified Speech for Young Listeners With Normal and Impaired Hearing

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/1092-4388(2002/083) ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 45 (5) ◽

pp. 1027-1038 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Rosalie M. Uchanski ◽

Ann E. Geers ◽

Athanassios Protopapas

Keyword(s):

Speech Processing ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Hearing Impaired ◽

Processing Conditions ◽

Impaired Hearing ◽

Slowing Down ◽

Listening In Noise ◽

Hearing Children ◽

Impaired Children ◽

Hearing Impaired Children

Exposure to modified speech has been shown to benefit children with languagelearning impairments with respect to their language skills (M. M. Merzenich et al., 1998; P. Tallal et al., 1996). In the study by Tallal and colleagues, the speech modification consisted of both slowing down and amplifying fast, transitional elements of speech. In this study, we examined whether the benefits of modified speech could be extended to provide intelligibility improvements for children with severe-to-profound hearing impairment who wear sensory aids. In addition, the separate effects on intelligibility of slowing down and amplifying speech were evaluated. Two groups of listeners were employed: 8 severe-to-profoundly hearingimpaired children and 5 children with normal hearing. Four speech-processing conditions were tested: (1) natural, unprocessed speech; (2) envelope-amplified speech; (3) slowed speech; and (4) both slowed and envelope-amplified speech. For each condition, three types of speech materials were used: words in sentences, isolated words, and syllable contrasts. To degrade the performance of the normal-hearing children, all testing was completed with a noise background. Results from the hearing-impaired children showed that all varieties of modified speech yielded either equivalent or poorer intelligibility than unprocessed speech. For words in sentences and isolated words, the slowing-down of speech had no effect on intelligibility scores whereas envelope amplification, both alone and combined with slowing-down, yielded significantly lower scores. Intelligibility results from normal-hearing children listening in noise were somewhat similar to those from hearing-impaired children. For isolated words, the slowing-down of speech had no effect on intelligibility whereas envelope amplification degraded intelligibility. For both subject groups, speech processing had no statistically significant effect on syllable discrimination. In summary, without extensive exposure to the speech processing conditions, children with impaired hearing and children with normal hearing listening in noise received no intelligibility advantage from either slowed speech or envelope-amplified speech.

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