The effect of auditory training on speech-in-noise performance by elderly bilinguals in Singapore : a pilot study evaluating lace

Auditory training has been found to be an essential compensatory strategy alongside hearing aids for rehabilitating impaired and aged auditory systems. Previous studies have attested to significant improvement in the performance of speech-in-noise processing by monolingual, native English speaking,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ang, Natania Shuyi
Other Authors: Chan Hiu Dan Alice
Format: Final Year Project
Language:English
Published: 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/95163
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/9426
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
Description
Summary:Auditory training has been found to be an essential compensatory strategy alongside hearing aids for rehabilitating impaired and aged auditory systems. Previous studies have attested to significant improvement in the performance of speech-in-noise processing by monolingual, native English speaking, hearing aid users after training in the Listening and Auditory Comprehension Enhancement (LACETM) programme, designed to improve listening and cognitive skills (Sweetow & Henderson-Sabes 2006; Olson 2010; Song et al. 2012). The LACE programme however has never been validated on non hearing impaired, non-native English speaking elderly bilinguals in a multilingual context like Singapore. In this pilot study, the effectiveness of LACE on a bilingual population is evaluated as four elderly Mandarin-English bilinguals undergo a two-week, computer-based, adaptive LACE programme. Quick speech-in-noise (QuickSIN) test results show overall improvement in speech-in-noise perception and despite within-subject differences in scores, encouraging trends serve as a platform for future research to investigate the long-term benefits of such training, as well as cross-linguistic influences on multilingual populations.