The effect of stimulus structure on the auditory-visual perception of speech by Hebrew speaking adults with profound hearing loss

The present study evaluated the effect of speech features and context on the auditory-visual perception of speech by Hebrew speaking adults with profound hearing loss. All participants had profound, sensorineural hearing loss (95 dBHL +). They were presented with the following speech perception materials selected to evaluate the effect of the following variables: (1) /aCa/ nonsense syllables to evaluate the effect of voicing, place and manner of articulation on perception; (2) nonmeaningful and meaningful words to assess the effect of phoneme position; and (3) sentences to evaluate the effect of length, type and knowledge of the topic on perception. Speech material was introduced through the auditory-visual modality. Results indicated that all participants relied mainly on visual information; therefore perception of variables containing more pronounced visual cues was better than that of variables with poor visual information. Front place of articulation, fricatives, initial phonemes and short sentences, for example, were perceived better than back place of articulation, nasals, final phonemes and long sentences respectively. Further research, in which these kinds of speech materials are presented through the different sensory modalities using different sensory devices, is recommended.