The effects of auditory-visual vowel and consonant training on speechreading performance

Abstract

Recent work examined the effects of a novel approach to speechreading training using vowels, for normal-hearing listeners tested in masking noise [C. Richie and D. Kewley-Port, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 114, 2337 (2003)]. That study showed significant improvements in sentence-level speechreading for listeners trained on vowels compared to untrained listeners. The present study examined the effects of combining vowel and consonant training on speechreading abilities. Normal-hearing adults were tested in auditory-visual conditions in noise designed to simulate a hearing loss. Using a monosyllable context, one group of listeners received training on consonants, and another group received training on consonants and vowels combined. A control group did not receive training. All listeners performed speechreading pre- and post-tests, on words and sentences. Comparison with the earlier study showed posttest sentence-level speechreading increased by 10 percentage points for participants in the vowel training program, 8 percentage points for participants in the consonant training program, and, unexpectedly, only 2 percentage points for participants in the combined training program. Results from these relatively short training programs suggest that vowels, previously unused in speechreading training, may provide gains in speechreading abilities and play an important role in rehabilitation of hearing-impaired persons. [Work supported by NIHDCD02229.]