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Purpose: The goal of this study was to assess the listening behavior and social engagement of cochlear implant (CI) users and normal-hearing (NH) adults in daily life and relate these actions to objective hearing outcomes. Method: Ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) collected using a smartphone app were used to probe patterns of listening behavior in CI users and age-matched NH adults to detect differences in social engagement and listening behavior in daily life. Participants completed very short surveys every 2 hr to provide snapshots of typical, everyday listening and socializing, as well as longer, reflective surveys at the end of the day to assess listening strategies and coping behavior. Speech perception testing, with accompanying ratings of task difficulty, was also performed in a lab setting to uncover possible correlations between objective and subjective listening behavior. Results: Comparisons between speech intelligibility testing and EMA responses showed poorer performing CI users spending more time at home and less time conversing with others than higher performing CI users and their NH peers. Perception of listening difficulty was also very different for CI users and NH listeners, with CI users reporting little difficulty despite poor speech perception performance. However, both CI users and NH listeners spent most of their time in listening environments they considered “not difficult.” CI users also reported using several compensatory listening strategies, such as visual cues, whereas NH listeners did not. Conclusion: Overall, the data indicate systematic differences between how individual CI users and NH adults navigate and manipulate listening and social environments in everyday life.
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Leveraging interdisciplinary perspectives to optimize auditory training for cochlear implant users
Abstract This review examines the role of auditory training on speech adaptation for cochlear implant users. A current limitation of the existing evidence base is the failure to adequately account for wide variability in speech perception outcomes following implantation. While many preimplantation factors contribute to the variance observed in outcomes, formal auditory training has been proposed as a way to maximize speech comprehension benefits for cochlear implant users. We adopt an interdisciplinary perspective and focus on integrating the clinical rehabilitation literature with basic research examining perceptual learning of speech. We review findings on the role of auditory training for improving perception of degraded speech signals in normal hearing listeners, with emphasis on how lexically oriented training paradigms may facilitate speech comprehension when the acoustic input is diminished. We conclude with recommendations for future research that could foster translation of principles of speech learning in normal hearing listeners to aural rehabilitation protocols for cochlear implant patients.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1735225
- PAR ID:
- 10456439
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Language and Linguistics Compass
- Volume:
- 14
- Issue:
- 9
- ISSN:
- 1749-818X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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