The Effects of Captioning Errors, Background Noise, and Hearing Loss on Memory for Text-Captioned Speech

Previous studies have suggested that the negative effects of acoustic challenge on speech memory can be attenuated with assistive text captions, particularly among older adults with hearing impairment. However, no studies have systematically examined the effects of text-captioning errors, which are common in automated speech recognition (ASR) systems.

In two experiments, we examined memory for text-captioned speech (with and without background noise) when captions had no errors (control) or had one of three common ASR errors: substitution, deletion, or insertion errors.

In both Experiment 1 (young adults with normal hearing) and Experiment 2 (older adults with varying hearing acuity), we observed similar additive effects of caption errors and background noise, such that increased background noise and the presence of captioning errors negatively impacted memory outcomes. Notably, the negative effects of captioning errors were largest among older adults with increased hearing thresholds, suggesting that older adults with hearing loss may show an increased reliance on text captions compared to adults with normal hearing.

Our findings show that even a single-word error can be deleterious to memory for text-captioned speech, especially in older adults with hearing loss. Therefore, to produce the greatest benefit to memory, it is crucial that text captions are accurate.