Working memory capacity and lexical knowledge in perceptual restoration of interrupted speech

Abstract

Role of working memory capacity (WMC) and lexical knowledge in perceptual restoration (PR) of missing speech was investigated using the interrupted speech perception (ISP) paradigm. 75 young normal hearing listeners’ speech identification was measured using low-context sentences interrupted by silence and three noise at 1.5 Hz. Noise conditions created by manipulating the spectro-temporal content of filler noise were as follows: (1) low frequency (LF) speech shaped noise (SSN), (2) temporal fine structure filled (TFSf) noise consisting of LF TFS from the missing speech, and (3) temporal envelope filled (TEf) noise consisting of LF TE extracted from the missing speech. WMC was measured using verbal reading span and visuospatial symmetry span. Lexical knowledge was assessed using standard vocabulary and meaning from context tests. We hypothesized that during noise filled ISP conditions WM mechanism is crucial for retrieving and integrating relevant information from long-term memory. Results showed that ISP ...