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ERIC Number: EJ1325206
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Dec
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1092-4388
EISSN: N/A
Effects of Age and Uncertainty on the Visual Speech Benefit in Noise
Beadle, Julie; Kim, Jeesun; Davis, Chris
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, v64 n12 p5041-5060 Dec 2021
Purpose: Listeners understand significantly more speech in noise when the talker's face can be seen (visual speech) in comparison to an auditory-only baseline (a visual speech benefit). This study investigated whether the visual speech benefit is reduced when the correspondence between auditory and visual speech is uncertain and whether any reduction is affected by listener age (older vs. younger) and how severe the auditory signal is masked. Method: Older and younger adults completed a speech recognition in noise task that included an auditory-only condition and four auditory-visual (AV) conditions in which one, two, four, or six silent talking face videos were presented. One face always matched the auditory signal; the other face(s) did not. Auditory speech was presented in noise at -6 and -1 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Results: When the SNR was -6 dB, for both age groups, the standard-sized visual speech benefit reduced as more talking faces were presented. When the SNR was -1 dB, younger adults received the standard-sized visual speech benefit even when two talking faces were presented, whereas older adults did not. Conclusions: The size of the visual speech benefit obtained by older adults was always smaller when AV correspondence was uncertain; this was not the case for younger adults. Difficulty establishing AV correspondence may be a factor that limits older adults' speech recognition in noisy AV environments.
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. 2200 Research Blvd #250, Rockville, MD 20850. Tel: 301-296-5700; Fax: 301-296-8580; e-mail: slhr@asha.org; Web site: http://jslhr.pubs.asha.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A