(1) When both auditory and visual information is available, individuals with hearing loss tend to do better on communication tasks. (2) By 5 months of age, infants already attend to visual speech cues, preferring synchronous facial and speech movements. (3) Training children in speechreading may enhance their understanding in noisy situations by releasing masking and allowing them to make use of visual speech cues.

1. Visual cues of speech

2. Auditory-visual speech recognition(Grant et al 1998)

3. CognitivePerceptual(Grant et al 1998)

4. Auditory-visual speech recognitionIntersection densityWords in greater intersection density is harder to comprehend(Grant et al 1998)

5. CompareIntersection density

6. When BOTH auditory and visual information is available, individuals with hearing loss tend to do better on communication tasksExample (Auditory plus Vision):Speech Recognition Score = 50%Speechreading Score = 20%Combined Visual/Auditory Score = 90%Auditory plus Vision

7. Children are in a phase of skill acquisitionBy 5 months of age, infants already attend to visual cues, preferring synchronous facial/speech modulationsAbout 40% of speech sounds are visible on the face

8. AV release from masking1 2 3 4 5 6 7 81 2 3 4 5 6 7 81 2 3 4 5 6 7 81 2 3 4 5 6 7 88 voices, 4♀ 4♂Target (65 dB SPL)“Ready, Baron, go to [color] [number] now.”Distractor (-35 - +15 SNR)“Ready, [call-sign], go to [color] [number] now.”(Wightman et al 2006)

9. AV release from masking

10. Speech reading enhancementAudiovisual score— Audio only scoreEnhancement

11. Viseme groupsCan vary depending on neighboring phonemesWalden, B. E., Prosek, R. A., Montgomery, A. A., Scherr, C. K., & Jones, C. J. (1977). Effects of training on the visual recognition of consonants. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 20(1), 130-145.

12. Viseme groupsCan vary depending on neighboring phonemesErber, N. P. (1974). Visual perception of speech by deaf children: Recent developments and continuing needs. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 39, 178-185.

13. Viseme groupsCan vary depending on neighboring phonemesLesner, K., Sandridge, S., and Kricos, P. (1987). Training influences on visual consonant and sentence recognition. Ear and Hearing, 8, 283-287.

14. Visemes associated with different vowels

15. Place is visibleManner and voicing are invisible

16. /u, i/ contrastUsing visual to discriminate what hearing loss cannot

17. SentencesUtley Sentence testDenver Quick testWords + SentencesCraig inventoryWords appropriate for Pre-K, KindergartenAssessing speechreading

18. Homophenous wordsbunputtbuzzmudpuckIs it better to train clients to differentiate phonemes or visemes during speechreading training?sick

19. Differentiation of viseme groupsTraining

20. Differentiation of viseme groupsNot differentiation within viseme groupTraining

21. Analytic – phoneme levelfew cues apart from visualif this becomes automatic, then cognitive resources released for auditory processingSynthetic – sentence/conversational levelsentence topic provides cues“Put your shoes on your feet”Training

22. Factors enhancing visual cuesGood lightingNo obstructionsOptimal speech rateUnexaggerated articulationSpeaker familiarityClose proximity

23. Should children be trained in speechreading?

24. Perhaps at an age where they can benefit from training better than anyone.Can enhance understanding in situations where auditory signal is distorted by noise or reverberation.(~15 dB release from masking).Should we only focus on auditory process?Should children be trained in speechreading?

25. McGurk effectmouth goes “ba”voice goes “ga”perception is “da”Effect is weaker in children than adultschildren more strongly encode auditory stimulusFive-month-old infants demonstrate McGurk effectAudiovisual interactions

26. From close to birth, children processing language supramodally, attending to auditory and visual cues.

27. Direction of eye gaze during speechreadingProsodic judgmentsPhonemic judgmentsLansing & McConkie, 1999

28. Factors influencing speechreading

30. DeShaun is a 10-year-old girl fit with bilateral hearing aids. Her family is taking her to Dave & Buster’s to celebrate her good report card.Make a diagram to help DeShaun’s family (Mother, Father, and brother) know where they should sit in a restaurant to maximize communication and speechreading.