Abstract
Traditionally, audiology research has focused primarily on hearing and related disorders. In recent years, however, growing interest and insight has developed into the interaction of hearing and cognition. This applies to a person’s listening and speech comprehension ability and the neural realization thereof. The present perspective extends this view to oral communication, when two or more people interact in social context. Specifically, the impact of hearing impairment and cognitive changes with age is discussed. In focus are executive functions, a group of top-down processes that guide attention, thought and action according to goals and intentions. The strategic allocation of the limited cognitive processing capacity among concurrent tasks is often effortful, especially under adverse communication conditions and in old age. Working memory, a sub-function extensively discussed in cognitive hearing science, is here put into the context of other executive and cognitive functions required for oral communication and speech comprehension. Finally, taking an ecological view on hearing impairment, activity limitations and participation restrictions are discussed regarding their psycho-social impact and third-party disability.
Highlights
Cognitive and Ecological Audiology, Science and Technology, Phonak AG, Laubisrütistrasse 28, CH-8712 Stäfa, Specialty section: This article was submitted to Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology
The present perspective extends this view to oral communication, when two or more people interact in social context
A sub-function extensively discussed in cognitive hearing science, is here put into the context of other executive and cognitive functions required for oral communication and speech comprehension
Summary
Being able to communicate with others is regarded a key element of human functioning. During oral communication individuals interact with each other, and with their social and physical surroundings by exchanging information in form of language, signals, and behavior (Stephens and Kramer, 2009). In the communication pathway hearing represents an important, rather passive function denoting the perception of sound It is usually at this stage of sensory processing that hearing impairment is described by means of audiometry. To maintain the flow of a conversation and to avoid interruptions, when communication problems occur, strategies for compensation and repair need be activated immediately Such strategies could include that the speaker repeats or rephrases what was said using loud and clear voicing, or that the hearing impaired person tries to concentrate more and activates additional mental resources (e.g., filling the FIGURE 1 | Executive functions—a set of top-down mental processes (adapted from Diamond, 2013). Gaps through context) or relies more on other modalities (e.g., visual cues for lip-reading; Lind, 2009; Lind et al, 2010)
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