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

 描述（由申请人提供）：几乎90%的听力损失儿童参加正规公立学校的课堂，95%的儿童使用口语进行交流。根据他们的听力损失程度，即使他们戴着助听器，他们也会错过30-60%的课堂口语材料。毫不奇怪，研究表明，语音识别能力差会导致学习成绩差;如果一个人在每十个单词中只理解三个单词，那么学习学术材料是一项艰巨的任务。虽然大多数听力康复专家都提倡通过结构化训练来提高语音识别能力，但令人遗憾的是，大多数儿童并没有接受这种训练。使用一个可行的和廉价的交付系统，我们的多学科团队提出，以确定最有利于儿童的语音识别培训的种类。将使用手持式、游戏式的训练程序向三组听力损失儿童提供噪声中的语音训练：一组将接受听觉训练，一组将接受视听训练，一组将接受两者的结合。按照A-A-B-B-B实验设计，在类似诊所的环境中进行4周的正式培训后，在4周的家庭培训后，然后在整个学期的自主培训后，比较组效益。重要的是，使用适当的转移处理（TAP）理论的学习作为理论动机，我们将确定在何种程度上儿童受益于谈话者特定的培训。在项目完成后，我们的团队将确定哪种类型的语音识别训练在语音识别方面的收益最大（目标1），我们是否可以定制语音识别训练，让孩子们通过未来教师所说的材料进行训练，从而快速融入新的课堂（目标2），以及通过手持设备进行的家庭培训在多大程度上可以维持和扩大在类似诊所的培训环境中取得的成果，以及培训模式和个体参与者变量如何影响受益（目标3）。该项目在多个层面上进行了创新，包括训练方法的比较，理论基础，测试电池和视觉增强的考虑，将游戏设计原则纳入程序软件，以及实验设计。使用循证训练来提高语音识别能力，为那些有学习和社交困难的高风险儿童提供了最佳和最实用的解决方案。这项拟议中的研究基于TAP理论基础，将为如何最好地为听力损失儿童提供语音识别训练提供答案。

 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.