Purpose: The effect of onset asynchrony on dichotic vowel segregation and identification in normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) listeners was examined. We hypothesized that fusion would decrease and identification performance would improve with increasing onset asynchrony. Additionally, we hypothesized that HI listeners would gain more…

Purpose: A broad area of interest to our group is to understand the consequences of the "cue profile" (a measure of how well a listener can utilize audible temporal and/or spectral cues for listening scenarios in which a subset of cues is distorted). The study goal was to determine if listeners whose cue profile indicated that they…

Across three separate investigations, this dissertation documents work examining the role of higher-order processes and cognitive effort during the top-down compensatory repair of degraded speech, specifically perceptual restoration. Perceptual restoration is a phenomenon where a listener can perceptually restore or repair speech…

Purpose: University is an important time for learning; therefore, it is vital that the classroom acoustic environment is conducive for all students. The aim of this scoping review was to determine what is known from the literature about the effect of classroom acoustic conditions on university students' listening, learning, and well-being and…

Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to assess dual-task interference (i.e., changes between the dual-task and baseline condition) in a listening effort dual-task paradigm in normal-hearing (NH) adults, hearing aid (HA) users, and cochlear implant (CI) users. Method: Three groups of 31 participants were included: (a) NH adults, (b) HA…

Background: Individuals with Down syndrome are known to have high rates of hearing loss, but it is unclear how this impacts their ability to communicate and function in real-world environments. Methods: Sixteen English-speaking and Spanish-speaking mothers of individuals with Down syndrome ages 6-40 years participated in individual,…

Background: Two intervention approaches are implemented in South Africa to alleviate the deleterious consequences of congenital or early onset hearing impairment on language acquisition and subsequent poor learning outcomes. Aim: This study investigated the learning outcomes of foundation phase learners with severe to profound hearing impairment…

Aim: To investigate mask use and the difficulties it may pose during communication in healthcare settings. Methods: A survey utilizing a series of Likert scales was administered. Mask use challenges between clinicians and their patients were examined in the domains of communication, listening effort, cognition, and rehabilitation. Results: Across…

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of speech recognition performance, working memory capacity (WMC), and a noise reduction algorithm (NRA) on listening effort as measured with pupillometry in cochlear implant (CI) users while listening to speech in noise. Method: Speech recognition and pupil responses (peak dilation, peak latency,…

Purpose: The study aimed to assess the relationship between (a) speech recognition in noise, mask type, working memory capacity (WMC), and inhibitory control and (b) self-rated listening effort, speech material, and mask type, in older adults with and without hearing impairment. It was of special interest to assess the relationship between WMC,…

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effect of chronic tinnitus on measures of listening effort and cognitive performance, as well as the relation between cognitive performance and the amount of listening effort obtained by those measures. Method: Thirteen normal-hearing young adults with chronic tinnitus were matched with a control group.…

Purpose: For bilaterally implanted patients, the automatic gain control (AGC) in both left and right cochlear implant (CI) processors is usually neither linked nor synchronized. At high AGC compression ratios, this lack of coordination between the two processors can distort interaural level differences, the only useful interaural difference cue…

Caregiver coaching is an expected practice in early intervention. However, little is known about coaching with caregivers of children who are deaf or hard of hearing, receiving services for listening and spoken language (LSL). A systematic review of 7 databases, the gray literature, and consultation with 7 expert LSL practitioners yielded 506…

Purpose: The aim of the study was to assess the susceptibility to energetic and informational masking in patients with single-sided deafness (SSD) with one normal-hearing (NH) ear and a cochlear implant (CI) in the contralateral ear, understand the effect on speech recognition when spatially separating noise and speech maskers, and investigate the…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine talker differences for subjectively rated speech clarity in clear versus conversational speech, to determine whether ratings differ for young adults with normal hearing (YNH listeners) and older adults with hearing impairment (OHI listeners), and to explore effects of certain talker characteristics…