Speechreading in hearing children can be improved by training.
Publication Date
2021-11Journal Title
Dev Sci
ISSN
1363-755X
Publisher
Wiley
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
AO
VoR
Metadata
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Buchanan-Worster, E., Hulme, C., Dennan, R., & MacSweeney, M. (2021). Speechreading in hearing children can be improved by training.. Dev Sci https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13124
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.
Keywords
PAPER, PAPERS, hearing, phonological awareness, reading, speechreading, training
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (100229/Z/12/Z)
Economic and Social Research Council (1474670)
Identifiers
desc13124
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13124
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/323247
Rights
Licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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