Speech Perception Research Articles

Music perception and its correlation with auditory speech perception in pediatric Mandarin-speaking cochlear implant users

Background Cochlear implants (CI) help regain perception of sound for patients with sensorineural hearing loss. The ability to recognize music pitch may be crucial for recognizing and producing speech for Mandarin. Aims/Objectives This study aims to search for possible influencing factors of music perception and correlations between music perception and auditory speech abilities among prelingually deaf pediatric Mandarin-speaking CI users. Material and Methods Music perception of 24 pediatric CI users and 12 normal hearing children was measured using the MuSIC test. Auditory speech perception of the 24 CI users was also measured and analyzed with their music perception results. Results Pediatric CI users performed worse than normal hearing children in pitch, rhythm and melody discrimination tests (p < .05). Significant difference in pitch and melody discrimination tests between age at implantation <5 and >5 groups was found. There were significant correlations between perception of consonants, tones, and speech in a noisy environment and perception of music pitch and melody. Conclusion and Significance Prelingually deaf pediatric CI users who received implantation before the age of five perform better in music perception tests. Pediatric CI users with better music perception show better auditory speech perception of Mandarin.

Ambulatory autonomic nervous system activity in relation to hearing impairment.

Previous research has demonstrated that hearing impairment is associated with heightened subjective experiences of listening effort, fatigue, and stress, impacting daily functioning. This study aimed to evaluate whether hearing impairment alters physiological stress systems and whether different aspects of hearing impairment could vary in predicting dysregulation in these systems. Hallmark measures of parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system activity were derived from electrocardiography, impedance cardiography, and electrodermal activity recordings taken from 133 individuals, aged 37 to 73, over two 24-hr periods, including sleep. Using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), participants reported mood, listening effort, and fatigue seven times daily. Hearing impairment was quantified through pure tone thresholds, speech perception in noise testing, and the Amsterdam Inventory for Auditory Disability questionnaire (Amsterdam Inventory). Using mixed models, we compared average daytime and sleep values of physiological measures across the 2 days, and their daytime-to-sleep contrast, based on each hearing impairment assessment. Results indicated that all three hearing impairment assessments were strong predictors of EMA outcomes of listening effort and fatigue. Contrary to expectations, hearing impairment did not have a significant impact on parasympathetic activity in daily life or on skin sympathetic activity. However, individuals with higher impairment exhibited a larger change in a cardiac sympathetic measure, the pre-ejection period, during wakefulness compared to sleep. Overall, hearing impairment had a small impact on autonomic nervous system functioning in daily life, but the effects were potentially attenuated by reduced exposure to listening demand in those with hearing impairment.

How Do Enriched Speech Acoustics Support Language Acquisition in Children With Hearing Loss? A Narrative Review.

Language outcomes of children with hearing loss remain heterogeneous despite recent advances in treatment and intervention. Consonants with high frequency, in particular, continue to pose challenges to affected children's speech perception and production. In this review, the authors evaluate findings of how enriched child-directed speech and song might function as a form of early family-centered intervention to remedy the effects of hearing loss on consonant acquisition already during infancy. First, they review the developmental trajectory of consonant acquisition and how it is impeded by permanent pediatric hearing loss. Second, they assess how phonetic-prosodic and lexico-structural features of caregiver speech and song could facilitate acquisition of consonants in the high-frequency range. Last, recommendations for clinical routines and further research are expressed.

Students’ Perspectives of English within University Subculture in Sri Lanka: Resentment or Acceptance?

This study investigates Sri Lankan undergraduate students’ perceptions of the English language within the context of a technological study program conducted in the English medium. Despite global prominence of English as a vital communication tool, over the years many undergraduates in Sri Lanka have exhibited poor communicative competence in English often influenced by the so-called ‘university subculture’ that perceives English as a marker of social class, status, and power due to its historical significance. This study explores whether resentment towards the English language still persists within university subculture or if there has been a significant shift towards accepting the language as a valuable asset in the face of globalization and technological advancement. Data for the study were collected by administering an online questionnaire to a randomly selected sample of 255 second semester students who were enrolled in a technological study programme affiliated with a government university in Sri Lanka in 2024. The objectives include analyzing historical and socio-cultural factors that shaped undergraduates’ perceptions toward English and to assess whether resentment towards the language still persists or whether there is a positive shift towards accepting it as a necessary tool. The study aims to provide insights into the complex dynamics of language perception in a post-colonial context, contributing to broader discussions on language, identity and social mobility in contemporary Sri Lanka.

Psychological Features of Teaching Oral Speech in a Foreign Language

This article is devoted to the problems of teaching high school students oral speech in a foreign language. Improving speech training is considered in the context of taking into account the psychological characteristics of students' perception and understanding of oral speech. In the classroom, it is important for teachers to useoreign language as a means of communication with students. The perception of foreign speech requires extremely intense attention. The teacher's speech should be phonetically correct and understandable for students. The teacher should use clear stimuli (intonation, facial expressions, gestures) that will arouse the interest of high school students in the perception of foreign speech. The emotional attitude of students towards the teacher is a necessary condition that must be taken into account when conducting classes. An important condition for starting the speech activity is motivation. Preferably, the internal motivation is dominant as it holds the person in a learning situation stronger. In order to facilitate the speaking process, it is worth creating natural communication situations for high school students. The role of dialogic speech is also important in teaching a foreign language. When high school students create dialogues without additional training on simple topics, they learn not only to formulate their opinion, but also to present it with all the lexical and grammatical means they have already learned. For the interest of students in learning a foreign language it is worth organizing a foreign language club and various activities.

Attenuated processing of vowels in the left temporal cortex predicts speech-in-noise perception deficit in children with autism

BackgroundDifficulties with speech-in-noise perception in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may be associated with impaired analysis of speech sounds, such as vowels, which represent the fundamental phoneme constituents of human speech. Vowels elicit early (< 100 ms) sustained processing negativity (SPN) in the auditory cortex that reflects the detection of an acoustic pattern based on the presence of formant structure and/or periodic envelope information (f0) and its transformation into an auditory “object”.MethodsWe used magnetoencephalography (MEG) and individual brain models to investigate whether SPN is altered in children with ASD and whether this deficit is associated with impairment in their ability to perceive speech in the background of noise. MEG was recorded while boys with ASD and typically developing boys passively listened to sounds that differed in the presence/absence of f0 periodicity and formant structure. Word-in-noise perception was assessed in the separate psychoacoustic experiment using stationary and amplitude modulated noise with varying signal-to-noise ratio.ResultsSPN was present in both groups with similarly early onset. In children with ASD, SPN associated with processing formant structure was reduced predominantly in the cortical areas lateral to and medial to the primary auditory cortex, starting at ~ 150—200 ms after the stimulus onset. In the left hemisphere, this deficit correlated with impaired ability of children with ASD to recognize words in amplitude-modulated noise, but not in stationary noise.ConclusionsThese results suggest that perceptual grouping of vowel formants into phonemes is impaired in children with ASD and that, in the left hemisphere, this deficit contributes to their difficulties with speech perception in fluctuating background noise.

Intelligibility Sound Therapy Enhances the Ability of Speech-in-Noise Perception and Pre-Perceptual Neurophysiological Response

Aural rehabilitation with hearing aids can decrease the attentional requirements of cognitive resources by amplifying deteriorated-frequency sound in hearing loss patients and improving auditory discrimination ability like speech-in-noise perception. As aural rehabilitation with an intelligible-hearing sound also can be hopeful, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of aural rehabilitation with intelligible-hearing sound for hearing loss patients. Adult native Japanese speakers (17 males and 23 females, 68.43 ± 9.23 years) with hearing thresholds exceeding 30 dB at any of the following frequencies: 125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 8000, 10,000, and 12,000 Hz in either ear, were recruited. on any side were recruited and underwent the Mini-Mental State Examination Japanese. We conducted a self-evaluation questionnaire for hearing problems of voice, a gap detection test, a fast speech test, a speech-in-noise test, a pure tone audiogram, and a speech perception test using a Japanese 67-S, cortical auditory-evoked fields, and magnetic mismatch negativity before and after the non-intelligible-hearing (N = 20) and intelligible-hearing (N = 20) sound therapy, which involved listening to music for one hour a day for 35 days. The better hearing ear was defined using a four-frequency pure-tone average at the thresholds of 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz. After the sound therapy, the speech-in-noise test with a signal-to-noise ratio +10 in the better hearing ear showed significant improvement (p &lt; 0.05), and N1m-P2m amplitudes showed a significant increase in the Lt superior temporal gyrus in response to the stimulus from the better hearing ear (p &lt; 0.05). A significant enhancement of the magnetic mismatch negativity amplitude at the Lt superior temporal gyrus was exhibited after the sound therapy (p &lt; 0.01). Intelligible-hearing sound therapy can improve the ability of speech-in-noise perception in the better hearing ear and enhancement of central cortex response, which reflects the ability of working memory, was proved by cortical auditory-evoked fields and magnetic mismatch negativity. Intelligible-hearing sound therapy can be a valuable aural rehabilitation method for sensory neural hearing loss, the same as hearing aids.

Older adults’ recognition of medical terminology in hospital noise

Word identification accuracy is modulated by many factors including linguistic characteristics of words (frequent vs. infrequent), listening environment (noisy vs. quiet), and listener-related differences (older vs. younger). Nearly, all studies investigating these factors use high-familiarity words and noise signals that are either energetic maskers (e.g., white noise) or informational maskers composed of competing talkers (e.g., multitalker babble). Here, we expand on these findings by examining younger and older listeners’ speech-in-noise perception for words varying in both frequency and familiarity within a simulated hospital noise that has important non-speech information. The method was inspired by the real-world challenges aging patients can face in understanding less familiar medical terminology used by healthcare professionals in noisy hospital environments. Word familiarity data from older and young adults were collected for 800 medically related terms. Familiarity ratings were highly correlated between the two age groups. Older adults’ transcription accuracy for sentences with medical terminology that vary in their familiarity and frequency was assessed across four listening conditions: hospital noise, speech-shaped noise, amplitude-modulated speech-shaped noise, and quiet. Listeners were less accurate in noise conditions than in a quiet condition and were more impacted by hospital noise than either speech-shaped noise. Sentences with low-familiarity and low-frequency medical words combined with hospital noise were particularly detrimental for older adults compared to younger adults. The results impact our theoretical understanding of speech perception in noise and highlight real-world consequences of older adults’ difficulties with speech-in-noise and specifically noise containing competing, non-speech information.

Models optimized for real-world tasks reveal the task-dependent necessity of precise temporal coding in hearing

Neurons encode information in the timing of their spikes in addition to their firing rates. Spike timing is particularly precise in the auditory nerve, where action potentials phase lock to sound with sub-millisecond precision, but its behavioral relevance remains uncertain. We optimized machine learning models to perform real-world hearing tasks with simulated cochlear input, assessing the precision of auditory nerve spike timing needed to reproduce human behavior. Models with high-fidelity phase locking exhibited more human-like sound localization and speech perception than models without, consistent with an essential role in human hearing. However, the temporal precision needed to reproduce human-like behavior varied across tasks, as did the precision that benefited real-world task performance. These effects suggest that perceptual domains incorporate phase locking to different extents depending on the demands of real-world hearing. The results illustrate how optimizing models for realistic tasks can clarify the role of candidate neural codes in perception.

Tone superimposition technique in Speech Sciences: a tutorial

In the literature, we encounter papers reporting manipulating pitch contours in speech tokens for a specific problem to be addressed in experiments (e.g., learning pitch patterns superimposed onto a pseudo-syllable), usually in the field of Speech Perception and Spoken Word Recognition. This type of research often tests listeners’ perceptual and processing skills in tonal languages (e.g., Mandarin, Thai, etc.), and requires superimposing a pitch contour onto a spoken syllable. However, very few studies reported in detail how this critical manipulation was done to meet specific experimental needs. In addition, there was neither specific guideline or description of the techniques being used, nor how ‘natural’ these manipulated tokens sounded in a particular language upon speech synthesis. Because this technique is crucial in establishing the conclusions in various studies, here, we will demonstrate our method of establishing this technique of tone superimposition (i.e., lexical tones in Mandarin) onto English syllables. In line with the open science model, we will also show our stimuli and procedures via OSF for readers to evaluate the validity of this technique. Manipulating the pitch contour in a spoken syllable can be complicated and change the perception of the spoken syllable in a significant way. Thus, we will also show the important factors to be considered in this process for doing research in Speech Sciences.

Reassessing the Benefits of Audiovisual Integration to Speech Perception and Intelligibility

Purpose: In difficult listening conditions, the visual system assists with speech perception through lipreading. Stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) is used to investigate the interaction between the two modalities in speech perception. Previous estimates of audiovisual benefit and SOA integration period differ widely. A limitation of previous research is a lack of consideration of visemes—categories of phonemes defined by similar lip movements when produced by a speaker—to ensure that selected phonemes are visually distinct. This study aimed to reassess the benefits of audiovisual lipreading to speech perception when different viseme categories are selected as stimuli and presented in noise. The study also aimed to investigate the effects of SOA on these stimuli. Method: Sixty participants were tested online and presented with audio-only and audiovisual stimuli containing the speaker's lip movements. The speech was presented either with or without noise and had six different SOAs (0, 200, 216.6, 233.3, 250, and 266.6 ms). Participants discriminated between speech syllables with button presses. Results: The benefit of visual information was weaker than that in previous studies. There was a significant increase in reaction times as SOA was introduced, but there were no significant effects of SOA on accuracy. Furthermore, exploratory analyses suggest that the effect was not equal across viseme categories: “Ba” was more difficult to recognize than “ka” in noise. Conclusion: In summary, the findings suggest that the contributions of audiovisual integration to speech processing are weaker when considering visemes but are not sufficient to identify a full integration period. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.27641064

An Anechoic, High-Fidelity, Multidirectional Speech Corpus.

We currently lack speech testing materials faithful to broader aspects of real-world auditory scenes such as speech directivity and extended high frequency (EHF; > 8 kHz) content that have demonstrable effects on speech perception. Here, we describe the development of a multidirectional, high-fidelity speech corpus using multichannel anechoic recordings that can be used for future studies of speech perception in complex environments by diverse listeners. Fifteen male and 15 female talkers (21.3-60.5 years) recorded Bamford-Kowal-Bench (BKB) Standard Sentence Test lists, digits 0-10, and a 2.5-min unscripted narrative. Recordings were made in an anechoic chamber with 17 free-field condenser microphones spanning 0°-180° azimuth angle around the talker using a 48 kHz sampling rate. Recordings resulted in a large corpus containing four BKB lists, 10 digits, and narratives produced by 30 talkers, and an additional 17 BKB lists (21 total) produced by a subset of six talkers. The goal of this study was to create an anechoic, high-fidelity, multidirectional speech corpus using standard speech materials. More naturalistic narratives, useful for the creation of babble noise and speech maskers, were also recorded. A large group of 30 talkers permits testers to select speech materials based on talker characteristics relevant to a specific task. The resulting speech corpus allows for more diverse and precise speech recognition testing, including testing effects of speech directivity and EHF content. Recordings are publicly available.

Reliability of the Unilateral Hearing Loss in Youth Instrument for Children With Single-Sided Deafness.

While general practice parameter recommendations for children with unilateral hearing loss or single-sided deafness (SSD) have been published, clinically utilized subjective instruments specifically designed to assess this population are scarce. Treatment options are evaluated using audiometric data, speech perception data, and quality of life instruments. The Unilateral Hearing Loss in Youth (uniHELO) is a subjective assessment instrument that aims to evaluate the listening challenges in this population, but it has not yet been studied in a clinical setting. This study examined the reliability of the uniHELO among children with SSD. This was a prospective within-subject study. Nine patients with SSD, aged 8-14 years, were enrolled. Participants had not used a personal hearing device for at least 6 months prior to enrollment. The uniHELO instrument was administered at two clinic visits separated by 3-4 weeks. For comparison, the Pediatric and Parent Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ) instruments were administered during the same visits. uniHELO scores were not significantly different between the first and second visits. The correlations of scale scores over time were: .96 for the uniHELO, which suggests excellent test-retest reliability; .84 for the Parent SSQ, which also suggests excellent test-retest reliability; and .27 for the Pediatric SSQ, which suggests poor test-retest reliability compared to the Parent SSQ and uniHELO. Within-subject scale uniHELO scores between clinic visits showed excellent test-retest reliability across items. The test-retest reliability scores for the uniHELO were also stronger than those for the Parent and Pediatric SSQ. These data support the use of the uniHELO to evaluate listening challenges in children with SSD.

Turkish mobile speech discrimination in real noise 4-word sentence test findings in individuals with hearing loss aged 8–12 years

BackgroundIn daily life, there has been a need to establish verbal communication with sentences instead of single-syllable words and to be tested with sentences that better reflect social life. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate signal noise ratio thresholds and speech comprehension scores in noise in children with severe sensorineural hearing loss by using real ambient noises, four-word spectral balanced sentences, and light, medium, and high input signal levels.ResultsA total of 40 children, including 20 children with severe sensorineural hearing loss, using bilateral hearing aids, (10.23 ± 1.64) and 20 children with normal hearing (9.25 ± 1.48), aged 8–12 years, were included in the study. The newly developed Turkish Mobile Sentence Test for Distinguish Speech in Real Noises was applied to the participants. This test is performed using spectral and coherence balanced 4-word sentences, at − 10 dB, − 5 dB, 0 dB, 5 dB, and 10 dB SNR thresholds and 40, 60, and 80 dB sound levels at shopping mall and amusement park. Children with hearing loss had higher signal noise ratio thresholds at all sound levels in shopping malls, amusement parks, and classroom environments, and their speech comprehension scores in noise were lower at these thresholds (p < 0.05).ConclusionsChildren with hearing loss aged 8–12 have difficulties in verbal communication, in real ambient noises, and in speech discrimination tests, even with 4-word sentences at mild, medium, and high levels of intensity, compared to children with normal hearing. Further studies evaluating hearing aid fitting settings with signal noise ratio thresholds are needed.

Comparing Cochlear Implant Outcomes in 100 Patients With Sporadic Vestibular Schwannoma Managed With Observation, Radiosurgery, or Microsurgery: A Multi-Institutional Review.

To compare cochlear implant (CI) speech perception outcomes in patients with sporadic vestibular schwannoma (VS) managed with observation, radiosurgery, or microsurgery. Retrospective review. Eleven tertiary academic medical centers. One hundred patients with sporadic VS who received an ipsilateral CI. Ipsilateral cochlear implantation. Pure-tone thresholds, monosyllabic speech perception testing scores, and rates of open-set speech acquisition. Of the 100 patients studied, 54 underwent microsurgery, 26 underwent radiosurgery, 19 continued observation, and 1 underwent multimodal therapy. Among all patients, the median post-implantation pure-tone average was 31 dB (interquartile range [IQR] 25-39 dB) and the median monosyllabic speech perception score was 30% (IQR 0-60%) at a median of 12 months (IQR 5-25 months) post-implantation. Patients who were managed with microsurgery (median speech perception score 11%, IQR 0-52%) exhibited poorer implant outcomes overall compared with those managed with observation (median speech perception score 52%, IQR 40-72%) or radiosurgery (median speech perception score 30%, IQR 16-60%). Open-set speech perception was achieved in 61% of patients managed with microsurgery, 100% with observation, and 80% with radiosurgery. In a multivariable setting, those managed with observation (p = 0.02) or who underwent radiosurgery (p = 0.04) were significantly more likely to achieve open-set speech perception compared with patients who underwent microsurgery. Cochlear implants offer benefit in selected patients with sporadic VS. Although achieved in over half of people after microsurgery, open-set speech perception is more reliably attained in patients who are treated with observation or radiosurgery compared with microsurgical resection. These data may inform patient counseling and VS tumor management in people who may benefit from implantation.

Stream segregation, musical abilities, and the development of speech perception in noise.

Nonlinguistic auditory abilities (e.g., stream segregation, musical perceptual abilities) are thought to contribute to speech perception in noise. How their development interacts with that of speech perception in noise remains unknown. Here, we aimed to (i) investigate the development of speech perception in noise and stream segregation and (ii) explore the relationship between musical abilities, stream segregation, and speech perception in noise throughout development. Our results confirmed the protracted developmental trajectory of both stream segregation and speech perception in noise. Importantly, they suggest that musical perceptual abilities indirectly contribute to speech perception in noise by means of improved stream segregation.

Hybrid Cochlear Implant Outcomes and Improving Outcomes With Electric-Acoustic Stimulation.

Electric-acoustic stimulation (EAS) provides cochlear implant (CI) recipients with preserved low-frequency acoustic hearing in the implanted ear affording auditory cues not reliably transmitted by the CI including fundamental frequency, temporal fine structure, and interaural time differences (ITDs). A prospective US multicenter clinical trial was conducted examining the safety and effectiveness of a hybrid CI for delivering EAS. Fifty-two adults (mean age 59.9 yr) were enrolled in the study and followed up to 5 years postactivation. Testing included unaided and aided audiometric thresholds, speech perception (Consonant-Nucleus-Consonant [CNC] words in quiet and AzBio sentences +5 dB SNR), and patient-reported outcomes (Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing Scale). Functionally aidable hearing, defined as low-frequency pure-tone average (125-500 Hz) <80 dB HL, was maintained for 77% of patients through 1 year, with 66.7% maintaining through 5 years. Speech perception was significantly improved at all postoperative timepoints compared with preoperative performance with hearing aid(s), and patient-reported outcomes indicated significantly improved subjective speech understanding, spatial hearing, and sound quality. Participants with preserved acoustic hearing using EAS reported significantly higher subjective spatial hearing and sound quality than participants with electric-only hearing in the implanted ear. Patients with high-frequency hearing loss demonstrate significant long-term benefit with a hybrid CI including high rates of functional hearing preservation, significantly improved speech perception, and subjective patient-reported outcomes. EAS with binaural acoustic hearing affords benefit for subjective spatial hearing and sound quality beyond CI listening configurations using monaural acoustic hearing.

Early Hearing Outcomes and Audiological Experiences With a Novel Fully Implanted Cochlear Implant.

To review audiological experiences and early hearing outcomes from the early feasibility study of a fully implanted cochlear implant. Prospective cohort. Tertiary academic medical center. Three adults (two-male, one female) with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. Implantation with a fully implanted cochlear implant as part of an early feasibility study. Postoperative unaided and aided pure-tone audiometry, tympanometry, mapping parameters, speech perception, battery life, and quality-of-life assessment. All patients in the early feasibility study of this fully implanted cochlear implant now use their devices regularly. Preoperative and postoperative audiometric measurements showed that their residual hearing in the implanted ear decreased slightly after surgery but was preserved. All patients had type A tympanograms after their transient middle ear effusion resolved. Electrical stimulation levels were comparable to those routinely used in traditional cochlear implants. Two of the three patients use a hearing aid in the implanted ear for additional gain and show significant improvement in speech perception since implantation. Average battery life before recharging is 4 days. All patients are regular users with two showing improvement in quality-of-life metrics after receiving the fully implanted cochlear implant. The patient experience and hearing outcomes from the early feasibility study of a novel fully implanted cochlear implant are detailed in this study and demonstrate ease of operation and daily use by all participants. All patients obtained hearing, but two of three use a hearing aid with their device to overcome unanticipated implant circuitry noise and achieve improved speech perception scores. Current work is focused on reducing this system noise to allow for the device to be used as intended, without a hearing aid.

Spectral splitting of speech signal using time varying recursive filters for binaural hearing aids

&lt;p&gt;Speech perception in noisy environments is reduced in human with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) due to masking. Moderate SNHL cannot be cured medically hence masking effects should be reduced to enhance speech perception. To reduce masking, processing delay and hardware complexity the present paper is proposed a scheme to partition the voice signal into two signals which are complementary to each other by using the filter-bank summation method (FBSM) with a set of time-varying recursive band pass filters. Performance of the filter is evaluated with following measures: perceptual evaluation of speech quality (PESQ), mean opinion score (MOS) for speech quality and modified rhyme test (MRT) for speech intelligibility. The test signals used for the evaluation of quality are a syllable and a word and for the evaluation of intelligibility 300 monosyllabic words are used. The results demonstrated an increase in the quality and intelligibility of processed speech in a noisy environment. As a result, there is an enhancement in perception of processed speech in a noisy environment.&lt;/p&gt;

Perceived Effectiveness of a Positive Thinking Training Course on Professional Identity: Reconciliation of Bipolar English as a Foreign Language Teachers with Positive Thinking

Objectives: About 5% of the world’s population suffer from bipolar disorder. These people, in general, and teachers in particular, have many personal, social, and working problems. Different approaches, such as positive thinking, have been suggested to cope with such issues. Moreover, professional identity, similar to general identity, has been applied in various ways in teacher and instructor training. Using a basic interpretive design, we explored perceptions of English foreign language (EFL) teachers with bipolar disorder and the effectiveness of a training course on positive thinking on their professional identity. Methods: The participants consisted of 25 (16 males and 9 females) bipolar EFL teachers who were purposefully selected from EFL teachers teaching in private language institutes in Kerman City, Iran. A bipolar spectrum diagnostic scale and a semi-structured interview were used to collect the study data. Also, a positive thinking training course was developed to be administered in ten 60-minute sessions. Results: Regarding the effectiveness of the positive thinking training course on professional identity, the output of a thematic analysis of the interviews conducted with bipolar EFL teachers were as follows: Improvement in communicative and motivational skills, enhancement of willingness to reach professional development and classroom management skills, working on English language proficiency, seeking the best teaching methods, attention to students’ needs, enhancement of verbal skills, and reducing teaching fear. Discussion: The research results help people participate in bipolar tests and psychological studies and strive for their mental health. It will also create a spirit of hope in patients. The findings have some implications for EFL teacher education administrators and bipolar EFL teachers. Training on positive thinking skills can contribute to positive changes and orientations in EFL bipolar teachers, reconstructing their professional identity.