Purpose: Current evidence regarding the influence of hearing loss on the pupil response elicited by speech perception is inconsistent. This might be partially due to confounding effects of age. This study aimed to compare pupil responses in age-matched groups of normal-hearing (NH) and hard of hearing (HH) listeners during listening to speech.…

Purpose: The main objective of this study was to assess the existence of developmental effects on the performance of the Vocale Rapide dans le Bruit (VRB) speech-in-noise (SIN) identification test that was recently developed for the French language and to collect reference scores for children and adolescents. Method: Seventy-two native French…

Purpose: As factors influencing human word perception are important in the construction of speech perception tests used within the speech and hearing sciences, the purposes of this study were as follows--first, to develop algorithms that can be used to calculate different types of word metrics that influence the speed and accuracy of word…

Purpose: This descriptive cohort pilot study, using a convenience sample, examined whether evidence from vocal function measures, auditory-perceptual ratings, and/or endoscopic signs of aging supported singing in senior chorales as a possible intervention to preserve the speaking voice in aging adults. Method: Thirteen singers and five nonsinging…

Purpose: This study investigated the efficacy of ultrasound biofeedback compared to a traditional acoustic input-only method in the second-language (L2) production training of English tense-lax vowel contrasts (/i-[near-close near-front unrounded vowel]/ and /e-[open-mid front unrounded vowel]/). The relationship between the degrees of production…

Purpose: The aim of the study was to address the reported inconsistencies in the relationship between objective acoustic measures and perceptual ratings of vocal quality. Method: This tutorial moves away from the more widely examined problems related to obtaining the perceptual ratings and the acoustic measures and centers in less scrutinized…

Purpose: The perception of rhythm cues plays an important role in recognizing spoken language, especially in adverse listening conditions. Indeed, this has been shown to hold true even when the rhythm cues themselves are dysrhythmic. This study investigates whether expertise in rhythm perception provides a processing advantage for perception…

Purpose: To establish the age at which children can complete tests of spatial listening and to measure the normative relationship between age and performance. Method: Fifty-six normal-hearing children, ages 1.5-7.9 years, attempted tests of the ability to discriminate a sound source on the left from one on the right, to localize a source, to track…

Method: Complete psychometric functions for phoneme and word recognition scores at 8 signal-to-noise ratios from -15 dB to 20 dB were generated for the first 10, 20, and 25, as well as all 50, three-word presentations of the Tri-Word or Computer Assisted Speech Recognition Assessment (CASRA) Test (Gelfand, 1998) based on the results of 12…

Purpose: To clarify the relationship between psychoacoustic capabilities and speech perception in adolescents with severe-to-profound hearing loss (SPHL). Method: Twenty-four adolescents with SPHL and young adults with normal hearing were assessed with psychoacoustic and speech perception tests. The psychoacoustic tests included gap detection…

The aims of this study were to evaluate whether talker intelligibility is consistent across listeners differing in age and gender and to investigate the process of attunement to talker characteristics in children and adults. Word intelligibility rates were obtained from 135 listeners (adults, 11-12-year-olds, and 7-8-year-olds) for 45 talkers from…

Purpose: To determine if listeners with normal hearing and listeners with sensorineural hearing loss give different perceptual weightings to cues for stop consonant place of articulation in noise versus reverberation listening conditions. Method: Nine listeners with normal hearing (23-28 years of age) and 10 listeners with sensorineural hearing…

Open-set word and sentence speech-perception test scores are commonly used as a measure of hearing abilities in children and adults using cochlear implants and/or hearing aids. These tests ore usually presented auditorily with a verbal response. In the case of children, scores are typically lower and more variable than for adults with hearing…

This study examined practice effects and list differences on a test of central auditory processing, the Synthetic Sentence Identification (SSI) test, with an ipsilateral competing message in 30 young and 20 elderly participants. Results indicated older adults required substantially more practice. Significant list differences were also found.…