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

 描述(由申请人提供)：近90%的听力损失儿童在普通公立学校的课堂上学习，95%的儿童使用口语交流。根据他们的听力损失程度，他们错过了课堂上所有口语材料的30%-60%，即使他们戴着助听器。毫不奇怪，研究表明，糟糕的语音识别会导致糟糕的学习成绩；如果一个人每十个单词中只听懂三个，那么学习学术材料是一项艰巨的任务。尽管大多数听力康复专家都主张通过结构化训练来提高语音识别能力，但可悲的现实是，大多数儿童并没有接受这种训练。这个项目为这个难题提供了一个潜在的解决方案。使用一种可行且廉价的教学系统，我们的多学科团队建议确定最有利于儿童的语音识别培训类型。将使用手持游戏式培训程序为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实验设计，在类似诊所的环境中进行4周的正式训练、4周的家庭训练和为期一学期的自主训练后，将比较小组的利益。重要的是，使用学习的迁移-适当加工(TAP)理论作为理论动机，我们将确定儿童从针对说话者的培训中受益的程度。项目完成后，我们的团队将确定哪种类型的语音识别培训在语音识别方面的收益最大(目标1)，我们是否可以量身定做语音识别培训，通过让孩子们使用未来教师讲的材料来快速融入新教室(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保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收益(目标3)。该项目融合了多个层面的创新，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，将游戏设计原理融入程序软件，以及实验设计。使用循证培训改善语音识别，为学习和社交困难的高危儿童提供了提高学业成绩的最佳和最实用的解决方案。这项拟议的研究牢牢建立在TAP的理论基础上，将就如何最好地为听力损失儿童提供语音识别培训提供答案。

 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.