RESUMEN
Introduction: This study evaluated the ability of children (8-12 years) with mild bilateral or unilateral hearing loss (MBHL/UHL) listening unaided, or normal hearing (NH) to locate and understand talkers in varying auditory/visual acoustic environments. Potential differences across hearing status were examined. Methods: Participants heard sentences presented by female talkers from five surrounding locations in varying acoustic environments. A localization-only task included two conditions (auditory only, visually guided auditory) in three acoustic environments (favorable, typical, poor). Participants were asked to locate each talker. A speech perception task included four conditions [auditory-only, visually guided auditory, audiovisual, auditory-only from 0° azimuth (baseline)] in a single acoustic environment. Participants were asked to locate talkers, then repeat what was said. Results: In the localization-only task, participants were better able to locate talkers and looking times were shorter with visual guidance to talker location. Correct looking was poorest and looking times longest in the poor acoustic environment. There were no significant effects of hearing status/age. In the speech perception task, performance was highest in the audiovisual condition and was better in the visually guided and auditory-only conditions than in the baseline condition. Although audiovisual performance was best overall, children with MBHL or UHL performed more poorly than peers with NH. Better-ear pure-tone averages for children with MBHL had a greater effect on keyword understanding than did poorer-ear pure-tone averages for children with UHL. Conclusion: Although children could locate talkers more easily and quickly with visual information, finding locations alone did not improve speech perception. Best speech perception occurred in the audiovisual condition; however, poorer performance by children with MBHL or UHL suggested that being able to see talkers did not overcome reduced auditory access. Children with UHL exhibited better speech perception than children with MBHL, supporting benefits of NH in at least one ear.
RESUMEN
Purpose The primary purpose of this study was to explore the efficacy of using virtual reality (VR) technology in hearing research with children by comparing speech perception abilities in a typical laboratory environment and a simulated VR classroom environment. Method The study included 48 final participants (40 children and eight young adults). The study design utilized a speech perception task in conjunction with a localization demand in auditory-only (AO) and auditory-visual (AV) conditions. Tasks were completed in simulated classroom acoustics in both a typical laboratory environment and in a virtual classroom environment accessed using an Oculus Rift head-mounted display. Results Speech perception scores were higher for AV conditions over AO conditions across age groups. In addition, interaction effects of environment (i.e., laboratory environment and VR classroom environment) and visual accessibility (i.e., AV vs. AO) indicated that children's performance on the speech perception task in the VR classroom was more similar to their performance in the laboratory environment for AV tasks than it was for AO tasks. AO tasks showed improvement in speech perception scores from the laboratory to the VR classroom environment, whereas AV conditions showed little significant change. Conclusion These results suggest that VR head-mounted displays are a viable research tool in AV tasks for children, increasing flexibility for audiovisual testing in a typical laboratory environment.
