Verbal working memory and inhibition-concentration in adults with cochlear implants

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Audiology
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Neurocognitive functions significantly impact speech recognition in adults with cochlear implants (CIs).
• Auditory verbal working memory (WM) is a known predictor of speech recognition, but the role of modality-general functions is less clear.
• The contribution of basic neurocognitive functions versus CI signal degradation to this association requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the predictive roles of modality-specific and modality-general verbal WM on speech recognition in CI users.
• To examine whether basic neurocognitive functions predict verbal WM abilities.
• To determine if verbal WM mediates the relationship between basic neurocognitive functions and speech recognition.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 30 postlingual adults with CIs and 30 age-matched normal-hearing controls.
• Assessment of sentence recognition in noise, modality-general verbal WM (Reading Span), and modality-specific auditory WM (Listening Span).
• Evaluation of controlled fluency and inhibition-concentration abilities.

Main Results:

• For CI users, Listening Span scores significantly predicted sentence recognition.
• Listening Span scores mediated the influence of inhibition-concentration on speech recognition in CI users.
• Reading Span scores did not correlate with sentence recognition in either group.

Conclusions:

• Inhibition-concentration skills are vital for speech recognition in CI users, with effects channeled through modality-specific verbal WM.
• Modality-specific auditory WM is more critical than modality-general WM for speech recognition in this population.
• Inhibition-concentration and WM skills represent promising targets for clinical interventions to enhance CI outcomes.