ENHANCING CHILDREN'S EVERYDAY COMMUNICATION: TALKER-SPECIFIC SPEECH RECOGNITION TRAINING

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 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Almost 90% of children with hearing loss attend a regular public school classroom and 95% communicate with spoken language. Depending upon their degree of hearing loss, they miss 30-60% of all spoken material in a classroom setting, even if they wear hearing aids. Not surprisingly, research has shown that poor speech recognition leads to poor academic achievement; it is a formidable task to learn academic material if one understands only three in every ten words. Although most experts in aural rehabilitation advocate structured training to improve speech recognition, the sad reality is that most children do not receive it. This project offers a potential solution to this conundrum. Using a feasible and inexpensive delivery system, our multi-disciplinary team proposes to determine the kinds of speech recognition training that most benefit children. Hand-held, game-like training programs will be used to present speech-in- noise training to three groups of children who have hearing loss: one group will receive auditory training, one will receive audiovisual training, and one will receive a combination of both. Following an A-A-B-B-b experimental design, group benefits will be compared after 4 weeks of formal training in a clinic-like setting, after 4 weeks f required home training, and then after semester-long self-determined training. Importantly, using a Transfer-Appropriate Processing (TAP) theory of learning as theoretical motivation, we will determine the extent to which children benefit from talker-specific training. Upon completion of the project, our team will have determined which type of speech recognition training results in the greatest gains in speech recognition (Aim 1), whether we can tailor speech recognition training to quickly integrate children into new classrooms by having them train with materials spoken by a future teacher (Aim 2),and the extent to which home-based training via hand-held devices can maintain and expand upon gains made in a clinic-like training environment and how patterns of training and individual participant variables affect benefit (Aim 3). The project incorporates innovation on multiple levels, including the comparison of training methods, the theoretical substrate, the test battery and consideration of visual enhancement, the incorporation of game design principles into program software, and the experimental design. Improving speech recognition using evidence-based training offers the best and most practical solution to improving academic performance for children who are at high risk for scholastic and social difficulties. The proposed research, which is based firmly on TAP theoretical underpinnings, will provide answers about how best to provide speech recognition training to children with hearing loss.