Purpose: Understanding speech often involves processing input from multiple modalities. The availability of visual information may make auditory input less critical for comprehension. This study examines whether the auditory system is sensitive to the presence of complementary sources of input when exerting top-down control over the amplification…

Purpose: For listeners with single-sided deafness, a cochlear implant (CI) can improve speech understanding by giving the listener access to the ear with the better target-to-masker ratio (TMR; head shadow) or by providing interaural difference cues to facilitate the perceptual separation of concurrent talkers (squelch). CI simulations presented…

Deaf people use visual language and communication strategies naturally. Moreover, hearing people (both young children and adults) can also benefit from sign language and the visual strategies that deaf parents and teachers use with young children, an example of deaf gain. This paper will provide an overview of the concept of deaf gain, review…

The study asked whether Deaf mothers seek to exploit the iconicity in signed languages to facilitate their infants' word learning. Two longitudinal case studies followed modifications that 2 Deaf mothers applied to their input while interacting with their hearing infants. Both mothers were sensitive to the communicative abilities of their infants…

Deaf children of hearing parents (DOH) are at risk for early language delays (ELD) due to environmental and etiological factors, compounding the previously reported higher incidence of ELD in deaf children of deaf parents (DOD) compared to the general population. Archival data from the online database of the Visual Communication and Sign Language…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the types of spelling errors made by children with mild to moderate hearing loss (CMMHL) compared with children with typical hearing (TH) and to determine if types of spelling errors were related to linguistic or audiologic factors. CMMHL and TH completed measures of spelling, spoken language, speech…

Recent evidence suggests that deaf children with CIs exposed to nonnative sign language from hearing parents can attain age-appropriate vocabularies in both sign and spoken language. It remains to be explored whether deaf children with CIs who are exposed to early nonnative sign language, but only up to implantation, also benefit from this input…

Studies examining visuospatial working memory (WM) in individuals with congenital deafness have yielded inconsistent results, and tactile WM has rarely been examined. The current study examined WM span tasks in the two modalities among 20 individuals with congenital deafness and 20 participants with typical hearing. The congenital deafness group…

Purpose: Improving the ability to listen efficiently in noisy environments is a critical goal for hearing rehabilitation. However, understanding of the impact of difficult listening conditions on language processing is limited. The current study evaluated the neural processes underlying semantics in challenging listening conditions. Method: Thirty…

Purpose: A Bayesian adaptive procedure, that is, the quick auditory filter (qAF) procedure, has been shown to improve the efficiency for estimating auditory filter shapes of listeners with normal hearing. The current study evaluates the accuracy and test-retest reliability of the qAF procedure for naïve listeners with a variety of ages and hearing…

Purpose: We present functional logistic mixed-effects models (FLMEMs) for estimating population and individual-level learning curves in longitudinal experiments. Method: Using functional analysis tools in a Bayesian hierarchical framework, the FLMEM captures nonlinear, smoothly varying learning curves, appropriately accommodating uncertainty in…

Purpose: The goal of this study was to investigate vowel detection and identification in noise and provide baseline data regarding how vowel perception changed with signal-to-noise ratios. Psychometric functions of vowel detection and identification for 12 American English isolated vowels in long-term speech-shaped noise were examined for young…

Several studies have explored the use of iconic gestures to improve the learning of foreign vocabulary. In this quest, words for abstract concepts have been largely neglected, under the assumption that abstract concepts have poor or non-existent sensory-motor representations. Yet, the Conceptual Metaphor Theory suggests that they are grounded on…

Purpose: The purpose of this tutorial is to guide practitioners to a critical praxis of speech, language, and hearing. This tutorial provides a foundational knowledge of critical theory as an approach to framing, conceptualizing, and interpreting phenomena and demonstrates its application to the speech, language, and hearing profession. Method:…

Academic integrity is a core issue at all higher education institutions. Repetitive qualified contact with members of a different group, such as deaf students, can result in more positive educational integrity between them and hearing peers or faculty. This study investigated the educational integrity of deaf students, peers, and faculty…