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Speechreading in hearing children can be improved by training.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Buchanan-Worster, Elizabeth  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4630-5945
Dennan, Rachel 
MacSweeney, Mairéad  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2315-3507

Abstract

Visual information conveyed by a speaking face aids speech perception. In addition, children's ability to comprehend visual-only speech (speechreading ability) is related to phonological awareness and reading skills in both deaf and hearing children. We tested whether training speechreading would improve speechreading, phoneme blending, and reading ability in hearing children. Ninety-two hearing 4- to 5-year-old children were randomised into two groups: business-as-usual controls, and an intervention group, who completed three weeks of computerised speechreading training. The intervention group showed greater improvements in speechreading than the control group at post-test both immediately after training and 3 months later. This was the case for both trained and untrained words. There were no group effects on the phonological awareness or single-word reading tasks, although those with the lowest phoneme blending scores did show greater improvements in blending as a result of training. The improvement in speechreading in hearing children following brief training is encouraging. The results are also important in suggesting a hypothesis for future investigation: that a focus on visual speech information may contribute to phonological skills, not only in deaf children but also in hearing children who are at risk of reading difficulties. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBdpliGkbkY.

Description

Keywords

hearing, phonological awareness, reading, speechreading, training, Child, Preschool, Deafness, Hearing, Humans, Lipreading, Phonetics, Reading

Journal Title

Dev Sci

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1363-755X
1467-7687

Volume Title

Publisher

Wiley
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (100229/Z/12/Z)
Economic and Social Research Council (1474670)