Purpose: Pitch perception is important for speech sound learning, and reading acquisition requires integration of speech sounds and written letters. Many individuals with dyslexia exhibit auditory perception deficits that may therefore contribute to their reading impairment given that complex pitch perception is crucial for categorizing speech…

Reading is a fundamental human capacity that recruits and tunes brain circuitry subserving several neurocognitive skills. Individual differences in reading-related skills are largely influenced by genetic variation. However, the molecular basis of the heritability of reading-related skills remains narrowly replicated. Genome-wide association…

Under the umbrella of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), this research explored the experiences of nine intermediate and secondary school students from Aotearoa New Zealand with auditory processing disorder (APD) who used a remote microphone (RM) system at school. Much of the school-based research with those with APD…

Speech disorders occur commonly in individuals with Down syndrome (DS), although data regarding the auditory-perceptual speech features are limited. This descriptive study assessed 47 perceptual speech features during connected speech samples in 26 children with DS. The most severely affected speech features were: naturalness, imprecise…

This study investigates how task-irrelevant auditory information is processed in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Eighteen children with ASD and 19 age- and IQ-matched typically developing (TD) children were presented with semantically-congruent and incongruent picture-sound pairs, and in separate tasks were instructed to attend to…

Research has suggested that the type and frequency of learning strategies employed by successful listeners is greater than their less successful counterparts. Based on evidence that metacognitive strategies (e.g. listening-for-gist; inferring meaning) are more effective than cognitive ones (e.g. word-for-word translation), this study sought to…

When perceiving emotional facial expressions, adults use a template-matching strategy, comparing the perceived face with a stored representation. A rejection of unnaturally exaggerated faces is characteristic of this strategy because the exaggerated expressions do not match the stored template. In contrast, a rule-based perceptual strategy (e.g.,…

Behavior analysts typically rely on visual inspection of single-case experimental designs to make treatment decisions. However, visual inspection is subjective, which has led to the development of supplemental objective methods such as the conservative dual-criteria method. To replicate and extend a study conducted by Wolfe et al. (2018) on the…

A bilingual's language system is highly interactive. When hearing a second language (L2), bilinguals access native-language (L1) words that share sounds across languages. In the present study, we examine whether input modality and L2 proficiency moderate the extent to which bilinguals activate L1 phonotactic constraints (i.e., rules for combining…

A single session of vocalizing through a straw (straw phonation) has been associated with consistent or increased acoustic output and chorister-reported improved choral sound and vocal efficiency. Some choristers, however, report discomfort from the intense pressure of vocalizing through a stirring straw (2.5-3.0 mm opening). It is unclear whether…

Face perception is considered a remarkable visual ability in humans that is subject to a prolonged developmental trajectory. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, mask-wearing has become mandatory for adults and children alike. Recent research shows that mask-wearing hinders face recognition abilities in adults, but it is unknown if the same holds…

This paper reports on a study which designed and developed a multi-fingered haptic interface in conjunction with a three-dimensional (3D) virtual model of a section of the cell membrane in order to enable students to work collaboratively to learn cell biology. Furthermore, the study investigated whether the addition of haptic feedback to the 3D…

Purpose: Phoneme categorization (PC) for voice onset time and second formant transition was studied in adult cochlear implant (CI) users with early-onset deafness and hearing controls. Method: Identification and discrimination tasks were administered to 30 participants implanted before 4 years of age, 21 participants implanted after 7 years of…

Subtitling in a community setting such as healthcare can satisfy the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) members of the community. It consists of a variety of stages such as transcription, spotting, translation and review. This qualitative study utilising content analysis aims to measure the quality of transcriptions by students…

The United States continues to become more racially and ethnically diverse, and the nation's colleges and universities' demographics are commensurate with that growth. Between 1976 and 2017, the percentage of White students enrolled in postsecondary institutions fell from 84% to 56%, while the percentage of American college students who identify…