Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 15, 2025

An Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Ageing on Sentence Processing
Published on: October 25, 2019
Is there an influence of perceptual or cognitive impairment on complex sentence processing in hearing aid users?
Luise Wagner1, Anna-Leoni A Werle1, Antonia Hoffmann1
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital Halle (Saale), University Medicine Halle (Saale), Halle, Germany.
Background:
Hearing-impaired listeners often have difficulty understanding complex sentences. It is not clear if perceptual or cognitive deficits have more impact on reduced language processing abilities, and how a hearing aid might compensate for that.
Methods:
In a prospective study with 5 hearing aid users and 5 normal hearing, age-matched participants, processing of complex sentences was investigated. Audiometric and working memory tests were performed. Subject- and object-initial sentences from the Oldenburg Corpus of Linguistically and audiologically controlled Sentences (OLACS) were presented to the participants during recording of an electroencephalogram (EEG).
Results:
The perceptual difference between object and subject leading sentences does not lead to processing changes whereas the ambiguity in object leading sentences with feminine or neuter articles evokes a P600 potential. For hearing aid users, this P600 has a longer latency compared to normal hearing subjects.
Conclusion:
The EEG is a suitable method for investigating differences in complex speech processing for hearing aid users. Longer P600 latencies indicate higher cognitive effort for processing complex sentences in hearing aid users.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Language and Cognition
Auditory Perception
Factors Affecting Perception
An illustrative example of a perceptual set is the scenario where an airline pilot told...
Hearing
Visual Agnosia
Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language
Language formation and comprehension take place in the dominant hemisphere. The dominant hemisphere is responsible for understanding the meaning of spoken, written, or sign language, as well as the ability to communicate. For most people, the left hemisphere is the dominant one. The right hemisphere, then, gives tone and emotional context to the...

