Phonological mismatch and explicit cognitive processing in a sample of 102 hearing-aid users

Area of Science:

• Auditory Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Speech-Language Pathology

Background:

• Hearing aid compression release settings can create a mismatch between input speech and long-term memory representations.
• This mismatch engages explicit cognitive processing, particularly in challenging listening environments.
• The ELU model predicts this mismatch effect.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if the mismatch effect observed in Swedish hearing aid users generalizes to Danish speakers.
• To determine the cross-linguistic stability of the phonological mismatch effect.

Main Methods:

• Reanalysis of existing speech recognition data from Swedish hearing aid users.
• Analysis of new aided speech recognition data from Danish hearing aid users.
• Administration of cognitive tests (reading span, letter monitoring) to Danish participants.

Main Results:

• The mismatch effect was demonstrated across all analyzed datasets, including both Swedish and Danish participants.
• Significant correlations were found between cognitive test performance and aided speech recognition.
• The reading span test effectively tapped into the mismatch effect.

Conclusions:

• The phonological mismatch effect is a stable phenomenon across Swedish and Danish languages.
• The ELU model accurately predicts this cross-linguistic effect.
• Cognitive factors play a crucial role in speech understanding for hearing aid users.