The hidden effect of hearing acuity on speech recall, and compensatory effects of self-paced listening

The purpose of this research was to determine whether negative effects of hearing loss on recall accuracy for spoken narratives can be mitigated by allowing listeners to control the rate of speech input.

Paragraph-length narratives were presented for recall under two listening conditions in a within-participants design: presentation without interruption (continuous) at an average speech-rate of 150 words per minute; and presentation interrupted at periodic intervals at which participants were allowed to pause before initiating the next segment (self-paced).

Participants were 24 adults ranging from 21 to 33 years of age. Half had age-normal hearing acuity and half had mild- to-moderate hearing loss. The two groups were comparable for age, years of formal education, and vocabulary.

When narrative passages were presented continuously, without interruption, participants with hearing loss recalled significantly fewer story elements, both main ideas and narrative details, than those with age-normal hearing. The recall difference was eliminated when the two groups were allowed to self-pace the speech input.

Results support the hypothesis that the listening effort associated with reduced hearing acuity can slow processing operations and increase demands on working memory, with consequent negative effects on accuracy of narrative recall.