Self-pacing ameliorates recall deficit when listening to vocoded discourse: a cochlear implant simulation
IntroductionIn spite of its apparent ease, comprehension of spoken discourse represents a complex linguistic and cognitive operation. The difficulty of such an operation can increase when the speech is degraded, as is the case with cochlear implant users. However, the additional challenges imposed b...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-11-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1225752/full |
| _version_ | 1797564538064732160 |
|---|---|
| author | Thomas A. Hansen Ryan M. O’Leary Mario A. Svirsky Arthur Wingfield |
| author_facet | Thomas A. Hansen Ryan M. O’Leary Mario A. Svirsky Arthur Wingfield |
| author_sort | Thomas A. Hansen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionIn spite of its apparent ease, comprehension of spoken discourse represents a complex linguistic and cognitive operation. The difficulty of such an operation can increase when the speech is degraded, as is the case with cochlear implant users. However, the additional challenges imposed by degraded speech may be mitigated to some extent by the linguistic context and pace of presentation.MethodsAn experiment is reported in which young adults with age-normal hearing recalled discourse passages heard with clear speech or with noise-band vocoding used to simulate the sound of speech produced by a cochlear implant. Passages were varied in inter-word predictability and presented either without interruption or in a self-pacing format that allowed the listener to control the rate at which the information was delivered.ResultsResults showed that discourse heard with clear speech was better recalled than discourse heard with vocoded speech, discourse with a higher average inter-word predictability was better recalled than discourse with a lower average inter-word predictability, and self-paced passages were recalled better than those heard without interruption. Of special interest was the semantic hierarchy effect: the tendency for listeners to show better recall for main ideas than mid-level information or detail from a passage as an index of listeners’ ability to understand the meaning of a passage. The data revealed a significant effect of inter-word predictability, in that passages with lower predictability had an attenuated semantic hierarchy effect relative to higher-predictability passages.DiscussionResults are discussed in terms of broadening cochlear implant outcome measures beyond current clinical measures that focus on single-word and sentence repetition. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T18:59:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c42793b9a19f414aa8a0d703caf69240 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T18:59:34Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-c42793b9a19f414aa8a0d703caf692402023-11-20T04:31:38ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782023-11-011410.3389/fpsyg.2023.12257521225752Self-pacing ameliorates recall deficit when listening to vocoded discourse: a cochlear implant simulationThomas A. Hansen0Ryan M. O’Leary1Mario A. Svirsky2Arthur Wingfield3Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, United StatesDepartment of Otolaryngology, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, United StatesIntroductionIn spite of its apparent ease, comprehension of spoken discourse represents a complex linguistic and cognitive operation. The difficulty of such an operation can increase when the speech is degraded, as is the case with cochlear implant users. However, the additional challenges imposed by degraded speech may be mitigated to some extent by the linguistic context and pace of presentation.MethodsAn experiment is reported in which young adults with age-normal hearing recalled discourse passages heard with clear speech or with noise-band vocoding used to simulate the sound of speech produced by a cochlear implant. Passages were varied in inter-word predictability and presented either without interruption or in a self-pacing format that allowed the listener to control the rate at which the information was delivered.ResultsResults showed that discourse heard with clear speech was better recalled than discourse heard with vocoded speech, discourse with a higher average inter-word predictability was better recalled than discourse with a lower average inter-word predictability, and self-paced passages were recalled better than those heard without interruption. Of special interest was the semantic hierarchy effect: the tendency for listeners to show better recall for main ideas than mid-level information or detail from a passage as an index of listeners’ ability to understand the meaning of a passage. The data revealed a significant effect of inter-word predictability, in that passages with lower predictability had an attenuated semantic hierarchy effect relative to higher-predictability passages.DiscussionResults are discussed in terms of broadening cochlear implant outcome measures beyond current clinical measures that focus on single-word and sentence repetition.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1225752/fulldiscourse memorynoise-band vocodingself-paced listeninglinguistic contextsemantic hierarchy effect |
| spellingShingle | Thomas A. Hansen Ryan M. O’Leary Mario A. Svirsky Arthur Wingfield Self-pacing ameliorates recall deficit when listening to vocoded discourse: a cochlear implant simulation Frontiers in Psychology discourse memory noise-band vocoding self-paced listening linguistic context semantic hierarchy effect |
| title | Self-pacing ameliorates recall deficit when listening to vocoded discourse: a cochlear implant simulation |
| title_full | Self-pacing ameliorates recall deficit when listening to vocoded discourse: a cochlear implant simulation |
| title_fullStr | Self-pacing ameliorates recall deficit when listening to vocoded discourse: a cochlear implant simulation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Self-pacing ameliorates recall deficit when listening to vocoded discourse: a cochlear implant simulation |
| title_short | Self-pacing ameliorates recall deficit when listening to vocoded discourse: a cochlear implant simulation |
| title_sort | self pacing ameliorates recall deficit when listening to vocoded discourse a cochlear implant simulation |
| topic | discourse memory noise-band vocoding self-paced listening linguistic context semantic hierarchy effect |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1225752/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT thomasahansen selfpacingamelioratesrecalldeficitwhenlisteningtovocodeddiscourseacochlearimplantsimulation AT ryanmoleary selfpacingamelioratesrecalldeficitwhenlisteningtovocodeddiscourseacochlearimplantsimulation AT marioasvirsky selfpacingamelioratesrecalldeficitwhenlisteningtovocodeddiscourseacochlearimplantsimulation AT arthurwingfield selfpacingamelioratesrecalldeficitwhenlisteningtovocodeddiscourseacochlearimplantsimulation |