Can a Commercially Available Auditory Training Program Improve Audiovisual Speech Performance?

• Published in: American journal of audiology 2016-10, Vol.25 (3S), p.308-312
• Main Authors: Rishiq, Dania, Rao, Aparna, Koerner, Tess, Abrams, Harvey
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Audio-visual education; Audiometry, Speech; Auditory Perception; Auditory Training; Communication; Control Groups; Correction of Hearing Impairment - methods; Ears & hearing; Female; Hearing Aids; Hearing impaired; Hearing Impairments; Hearing loss; Hearing Loss - rehabilitation; Humans; Laboratories; Lipreading; Listening; Listening Comprehension; Male; Methods; Middle Aged; Noise; Patient Education as Topic - methods; Patients; Researchers; Signal-To-Noise Ratio; Speech; Speech Perception; Studies; Technology application; Training; Voice recognition
• ISSN: 1059-0889; 1558-9137
• DOI: 10.1044/2016_AJA-16-0017

The goal of this study was to determine whether hearing aids in combination with computer-based auditory training improve audiovisual (AV) performance compared with the use of hearing aids alone. Twenty-four participants were randomized into an experimental group (hearing aids plus ReadMyQuips [RMQ] training) and a control group (hearing aids only). The Multimodal Lexical Sentence Test for Adults (Kirk et al., 2012) was used to measure auditory-only (AO) and AV speech perception performance at three signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Participants were tested at the time of hearing aid fitting (pretest), after 4 weeks of hearing aid use (posttest I), and again after 4 weeks of RMQ training (posttest II). Results did not reveal an effect of training. As expected, interactions were found between (a) modality (AO vs. AV) and SNR and (b) test (pretest vs. posttests) and SNR. Data do not show a significant effect of RMQ training on AO or AV performance as measured using the Multimodal Lexical Sentence Test for Adults.