To reveal the formation process of speech processing with early hearing experiences, we tracked the development of functional connectivity in the auditory and language-related cortical areas of 84 (36 female) congenitally deafened toddlers using repeated functional near-infrared spectroscopy for up to 36 months post cochlear implantation (CI).…

Intelligent Voice Assistants (IVAs) have become integral to many users' daily lives, using advanced algorithms to automate various tasks. Nevertheless, many users do not understand the underlying algorithms and how they work, posing potential risks to the competent and self-determined use of IVAs. This work develops three online training modules…

To learn language, children must map variable input to categories such as phones and words. How do children process variation and distinguish between variable pronunciations ("shoup" for "soup") versus new words? The unique sensory experience of children with cochlear implants, who learn speech through their device's degraded…

Purpose: This study examined the extent to which prelingual cochlear implant (CI) users show a slowed speaking rate compared with typical-hearing (TH) talkers when repeating various speech stimuli and whether the slowed speech of CI users relates to their immediate verbal memory. Method: Participants included 10 prelingually deaf teenagers who…

Purpose: Fundamental frequency (F0) is the primary acoustic cue for lexical tone perception in tonal languages but is processed in a limited way in cochlear implant (CI) systems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the importance of F0 contours in sentence recognition in Mandarin-speaking children with CIs and find out whether it is similar…

This study, which is part of a larger project that aims to make online math more accessible to students with visual impairments (VI), examines the text quality of math assessment items for students with VI who use screen readers. Using data from about 29.5 million students taking standard versions of the MAP Growth math assessment, and 48,845…

The long-term objective of this project was to better understand how shorter auditory experience and spectral degradation of the cochlear implant (CI) signal impact spoken language processing in deaf children with CIs. The specific objective of this research was to utilize psycholinguistic methods to investigate the mechanisms underlying observed…

Purpose: Speech recognition percent correct scores fail to capture the effort of mentally repairing the perception of speech that was initially misheard. This study measured the effort of listening to stimuli specifically designed to elicit mental repair in adults who use cochlear implants (CIs). Method: CI listeners heard and repeated sentences…

Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) is a digital communication method that transforms spoken discourse into written text. This rapidly evolving technology is used in email, text messaging, or live video captioning. Current ASR systems operate in conjunction with Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology to transform speech into text that people…

In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has shown significant progress and its potential is growing. An application area of AI is Natural Language Processing (NLP). Voice assistants incorporate AI by using cloud computing and can communicate with the users in natural language. Voice assistants are easy to use and thus there are millions of…

Over the last decade, there has been great research interest in the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in various fields, such as medicine, finance, and law. Recently, there has been a research focus on the application of AI in education, where it has great potential. Therefore, a systematic review of the literature on AI in education is…

Purpose: Phonological complexity is known to be a good index of developmental language disorder (DLD) in normal-hearing children, who have major difficulties on some complex structures. Some deaf children with cochlear implants (CIs) present a profile that evokes DLD, with persistent linguistic difficulties despite good audiological and…

Purpose: The purposes of this investigation were (a) to evaluate the effects of hearing aid directional processing on subjective and objective listening effort and (b) to investigate the potential relationships between subjective and objective measures of effort. Method: Sixteen adults with mild to severe hearing loss were tested with study…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which phonological competition and semantic priming influence lexical access in school-aged children with cochlear implants (CIs) and children with normal acoustic hearing. Method: Participants included children who were 5-10 years of age with either normal hearing (n = 41) or…

Purpose: General language abilities of children with cochlear implants have been thoroughly investigated, especially at young ages, but far less is known about how well they process language in real-world settings, especially in higher grades. This study addressed this gap in knowledge by examining recognition of sentences with complex syntactic…