This study examined the extent to which different measures of speechreading performance correlated with particular cognitive abilities in a population of hearing-impaired people. Although the three speechreading tasks (isolated word identification, sentence comprehension, and text tracking) were highly intercorrelated, they tapped different cognitive skills. In this population, younger participants were better speechreaders, and, when age was taken into account, speech tracking correlated primarily with (written) lexical decision speed. In contrast, speechreading for sentence comprehension correlated most strongly with performance on a phonological processing task (written pseudohomophone detection) but also on a span measure that may have utilized visual, nonverbal memory for letters. We discuss the implications of this pattern.
Fourteen postlingually hearing-impaired participants took part in an intervention study on the potential benefit of three types of tactile aids (i.e., the Tactilator, Minivib 3, and the Tactaid 7). Although training by means of computerized tracking had substantial effects on speech tracking rate, no differential effects of type of aid emerged. However, a cognitive test battery revealed that training efficacy is directly dependent on the cognitive prerequisites of the individual speechreader. The speed with which an individual can make phonological judgments (i.e., rhyme judgments) and visual word decoding from lipreading proved to be critical cognitive skills. We conclude that these skills must be further assessed and taken into account when rehabilitation/training programs are launched.
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