Auditory processing difficulties influence on perceptual learning

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Fiallo, K. M., & Galati, A. (2022). Auditory processing difficulties influence on perceptual learning. University Of North Carolina At Charlotte Undergraduate Research Journal. https://doi.org/doi:10.55370/urj.v2i1.1423
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Understanding spoken speech is a complex process that comes to most people easily, yet past research demonstrates that some people face difficulties with auditory processing. Listeners adjust to variations in speech by integrating auditory, visual, and other cues. However, people who have difficulties processing auditory information often rely less on visual cues, such as lip-reading. We investigated how listeners' reported difficulties in perceiving auditory information interact with their use of visual cues. This was a replication and extension of a study by Kraljic, Samuel, and Brennan (2008). Participants were divided into four groups based on which phoneme was changed (?S signifying [s] or ?SH signifying [∫]) and if listeners viewed the pen-in-hand (Characteristic) or the pen-in-mouth (Incidental) version of these words. The participants’ boundaries of these two phonemes were established in the category-identification task, in which participants categorized ambiguous sounds on the “SH” - “S” continuum as being more S-like or SH-like. We measured participants' perceptual learning—the way people restructure their phonemic boundaries to better understand speakers' variation—based on their categorization of the ambiguous sounds. After completing these tasks, participants responded to questions regarding their language background, and their auditory processing difficulties in daily experience. We did not replicate the findings of Kraljic and colleagues (2008), as we did not find an effect of visual context on perceptual learning. Contrary to our predictions, we also did not find an effect of individual differences in auditory processing on perceptual learning and no interaction with visual context. Given that the effect of visual context has been replicated before, our results are inconclusive. Individual differences' effect on perceptual learning should be explored further to gain insight into what affects perceptual learning and how to improve speech perception for those with difficulties.

Details
Title

Auditory processing difficulties influence on perceptual learning

Author(s)

Fiallo, Katherine M.
Galati, Alexia

UNC Charlotte Affiliate Type

Undergraduate

Extent

1 online resource

Date Created

2022

Material Type

Journal article

Genre

articles

Resource Type

text

Abstract

Understanding spoken speech is a complex process that comes to most people easily, yet past research demonstrates that some people face difficulties with auditory processing. Listeners adjust to variations in speech by integrating auditory, visual, and other cues. However, people who have difficulties processing auditory information often rely less on visual cues, such as lip-reading. We investigated how listeners' reported difficulties in perceiving auditory information interact with their use of visual cues. This was a replication and extension of a study by Kraljic, Samuel, and Brennan (2008). Participants were divided into four groups based on which phoneme was changed (?S signifying [s] or ?SH signifying [∫]) and if listeners viewed the pen-in-hand (Characteristic) or the pen-in-mouth (Incidental) version of these words. The participants’ boundaries of these two phonemes were established in the category-identification task, in which participants categorized ambiguous sounds on the “SH” - “S” continuum as being more S-like or SH-like. We measured participants' perceptual learning—the way people restructure their phonemic boundaries to better understand speakers' variation—based on their categorization of the ambiguous sounds. After completing these tasks, participants responded to questions regarding their language background, and their auditory processing difficulties in daily experience. We did not replicate the findings of Kraljic and colleagues (2008), as we did not find an effect of visual context on perceptual learning. Contrary to our predictions, we also did not find an effect of individual differences in auditory processing on perceptual learning and no interaction with visual context. Given that the effect of visual context has been replicated before, our results are inconclusive. Individual differences' effect on perceptual learning should be explored further to gain insight into what affects perceptual learning and how to improve speech perception for those with difficulties.

Subjects--Topics

Auditory perception
Perceptual learning

Is Part Of

University of North Carolina at Charlotte undergraduate research journal

Volume

Vol. 2, no. 1

Language

English

Published Version (Please cite this version)

doi:10.55370/urj.v2i1.1423

Publisher's Version

https://journals.charlotte.edu/urj/issue/view/127

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/work:892

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