Can Auditory and Visual Speech Perception Be Trained Within a Group Setting?

Abstract

Purpose-This study attempted to determine whether auditory-only and auditory-visual speech perception could be trained in a group format.Method-A randomized controlled trial with at least 16 participants per group was completed. A training-only group completed at least 5 hr of group speech perception training; a training plus psychosocial group completed at least 5 hr of group speech perception training and psychosocial exercises; and a control group did not receive training. Evaluations were conducted before and after training and included analytic and synthetic measures of speech perception, hearing lossrelated and generic quality of life scales, and a class evaluation form.Results-No significant group changes were measured on any of the analytic auditory-only or auditory-visual measures of speech perception, yet the majority of training participants (regardless of training group) reported improvement in auditory and auditory-visual speech perception. The training participants demonstrated a significant reduction on the emotional subscale of the hearing loss-related quality of life scale, while the control participants did not demonstrate a change on this subscale.Conclusions-Benefits of group audiologic rehabilitation classes may not result from an actual improvement in auditory or visual speech perception abilities, but participants still perceive training in these areas as useful.Keywords audiologic rehabilitation; training; auditory-only speech perception; auditory-visual speech perception; hearing loss Speech understanding is a perceptual ability in which training is expected to result in learning (Watson, 1980). There is evidence that individuals with normal hearing can be trained to discriminate novel speech contrasts (Logan, Lively, & Pisoni, 1993;Tremblay, Kraus, Carrell, & McGee, 1997), individuals with hearing loss can improve word or © American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Contact author: Jill E. Preminger, Program in Audiology, Myers Hall, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY 40292. jill.preminger@louisville.edu. HHS Public AccessAuthor manuscript Am J Audiol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 June 08. Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript sentence perception after auditory-only training (Burk, Humes, Amos, & Strauser, 2006;Rubinstein & Boothroyd, 1987;Walden, Erdman, Montgomery, Schwartz, & Prosek, 1981), and individuals with hearing loss can improve word or sentence perception after visual-only speech training (Bernstein, Auer, & Tucker, 2001;Walden et al., 1981). Due to reimbursement issues, audiologists have little financial incentive to offer auditory or visual speech perception training on an individual basis in the clinical setting (Kander & White, 2006). Audiologists who do want to offer these services to their patients with hearing loss can offer them through home-based computer training (Sweetow & Sabes, 2006) or with inoffice group training. There is, however, only limited evidence that auditory-only and audi...

Do Group Audiologic Rehabilitation Activities Influence Psychosocial Outcomes?

“…6 (NU-6) word list (Stach, Spretnjak, & Jerger, 1990; Yellin, Jerger, & Fifer, 1989). See Preminger and Ziegler (2008) for a more extensive discussion of the screening criteria.…”

“…Although a power analysis was not completed for any of the outcome measures used in the present study, a power analysis had been completed for a speech perception measure used in the Preminger and Ziegler study (2008) which determined that a sample size of 16 per group was necessary to achieve 80% power with a one-sided alpha = .05. As this study was an extension of the Preminger and Ziegler study, a sample size of at least 16 per group was required.…”

“…The psychosocial exercises described in Preminger and Ziegler (2008) were used in the present experiment. The exercises were designed to encourage discussion of (a) the problems, feelings, attitudes, and emotions associated with hearing loss; (b) other people’s reactions to their hearing loss; and (c) the impact of hearing loss on personal and professional relationships (Hogan, 2001).…”

“…The present study is an extension of the Preminger and Ziegler (2008) study. Three groups of participants were evaluated in a randomized controlled trial: One group received training activities focusing on communication strategies, one group received communication strategy training activities plus psychosocial exercises, and one group received informational lectures and psychosocial exercises.…”

“…In a recent study, the use of psychosocial exercises was manipulated in an evaluation of group AR benefit (Preminger & Ziegler, 2008). One group of adult hearing aid users participated in a group AR program consisting of auditory-only and auditory-visual speech perception training, while a second group of participants completed the same training plus psychosocial exercises designed to assist participants in the acceptance of hearing loss and hearing-related problems.…”