Combined effects of age and hearing impairment on utterances and requests for clarification in spontaneous conversation and a referential communication task.

Background: The impact of hearing impairment is typically studied in terms of its effects on speech perception, yet this fails to account for the interactive nature of communication. Recently, there has been a move towards studying the effects of age-related hearing impairment on interaction, often using referential communication tasks; however, little is known about how interaction in these tasks compares to everyday communication.

Aims: To investigate utterances and requests for clarification used in one-to-one conversations between older adults with hearing impairment and younger adults without hearing impairment, and between two younger adults without hearing impairment.

Temporal fine structure: associations with cognition and speech-in-noise recognition in adults with normal hearing or hearing impairment.

Objectives: To investigate associations between sensitivity to temporal fine structure (TFS) and performance in cognitive and speech-in-noise recognition tests.

Design: A binaural test of TFS sensitivity (the TFS-LF) was used. Measures of cognition included the reading span, Raven's, and text-reception threshold tests.

Comparison of Expressive Spoken Language Skills in Children With Cochlear Implants and Children With Typical Hearing.

When children start formal education, they are expected to be able to express complex thoughts. However, in order to do so, they need to be able to use both complex grammatical structures and a variety of words. One group that is at risk of having a delay in terms of their expressive language ability is children with cochlear implants (CI).

Retracted Article: Temporal fine structure: relations to cognition and aided speech recognition.

Retraction statementWe, the Editor and Publisher of the , have retracted the following article.Rachel J. Ellis, and Jerker Rönnberg.

Speech Recognition and Cognitive Skills in Bimodal Cochlear Implant Users.

Purpose: To examine the relation between speech recognition and cognitive skills in bimodal cochlear implant (CI) and hearing aid users.

Method: Seventeen bimodal CI users (28-74 years) were recruited to the study. Speech recognition tests were carried out in quiet and in noise.

Predicting Speech-in-Noise Recognition From Performance on the Trail Making Test: Results From a Large-Scale Internet Study.

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the utility of an internet-based version of the trail making test (TMT) to predict performance on a speech-in-noise perception task.

Design: Data were taken from a sample of 1509 listeners between ages 18 and 91 years old. Participants completed computerized versions of the TMT and an adaptive speech-in-noise recognition test.

How does susceptibility to proactive interference relate to speech recognition in aided and unaided conditions?

Proactive interference (PI) is the capacity to resist interference to the acquisition of new memories from information stored in the long-term memory. Previous research has shown that PI correlates significantly with the speech-in-noise recognition scores of younger adults with normal hearing. In this study, we report the results of an experiment designed to investigate the extent to which tests of visual PI relate to the speech-in-noise recognition scores of older adults with hearing loss, in aided and unaided conditions.

Predictors of aided speech recognition, with and without frequency compression, in older adults.

Objective: The aim was to investigate whether cognitive and/or audiological measures predict aided speech recognition, both with and without frequency compression (FC).

Design: Participants wore hearing aids, with and without FC for a total of 12 weeks (six weeks in each signal processing condition, ABA design). Performance on a sentence-in-noise recognition test was assessed at the end of each six-week period.

Cognition and speech-in-noise recognition: the role of proactive interference.

Background: Complex working memory (WM) span tasks have been shown to predict speech-in-noise (SIN) recognition. Studies of complex WM span tasks suggest that, rather than indexing a single cognitive process, performance on such tasks may be governed by separate cognitive subprocesses embedded within WM. Previous research has suggested that one such subprocess indexed by WM tasks is proactive interference (PI), which refers to difficulties memorizing current information because of interference from previously stored long-term memory representations for similar information.

Benefit from, and acclimatization to, frequency compression hearing aids in experienced adult hearing-aid users.

Objective: The aim was to investigate whether frequency compression (FC) hearing aids provide additional benefit to that conferred by conventional amplification.

Design: Participants wore the same hearing aid with FC enabled and disabled for six weeks (ABA design) in each condition. Speech recognition tests (in both quiet and in noise) were administered alongside two questionnaires.

Does cognitive function predict frequency compressed speech recognition in listeners with normal hearing and normal cognition?

Objective: The aim was to investigate the relationship between cognitive ability and frequency compressed speech recognition in listeners with normal hearing and normal cognition.

Design: Speech-in-noise recognition was measured using Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers sentences presented over earphones at 65 dB SPL and a range of signal-to-noise ratios. There were three conditions: unprocessed, and at frequency compression ratios of 2:1 and 3:1 (cut-off frequency, 1.