The Effects of Light Level and Signal-to-Noise Ratio on the Task-Evoked Pupil Response in a Speech-in-Noise Task.

PURPOSE: There is increasing interest in the measurement of cognitive effort during listening tasks, for both research and clinical purposes. Quantification of task-evoked pupil responses (TEPRs) is a psychophysiological method that can be used to study cognitive effort. However, light level during cognitively demanding listening tasks may affect TEPRs, complicating interpretation of listening-related changes. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of light level on TEPRs during effortful listening across a range of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). METHOD: Thirty-six adults without hearing loss were asked to repeat target sentences presented in background babble noise while their pupil diameter was recorded. Light level and SNRs were manipulated in a 4 × 4 repeated-measures design. Repeated-measures analyses of variance were used to measure the effects. RESULTS: Peak and mean dilation were typically larger in more adverse SNR conditions (except for SNR -6 dB) and smaller in higher light levels. Differences in mean and peak dilation between SNR conditions were larger in dim light than in brighter light. CONCLUSIONS: Brighter light conditions make TEPRs less sensitive to variations in listening effort across levels of SNR. Therefore, light level must be considered and reported in detail to ensure sensitivity of TEPRs and for comparisons of findings across different studies. It is recommended that TEPR testing be conducted in relatively low light conditions, considering both background illumination and screen luminance. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25676538.

Gesture, communication, and adult acquired hearing loss.

Nonverbal communication, specifically hand and arm movements (commonly known as gesture), has long been recognized and explored as a significant element in human interaction as well as potential compensatory behavior for individuals with communication difficulties. The use of gesture as a compensatory communication method in expressive and receptive human communication disorders has been the subject of much investigation. Yet within the context of adult acquired hearing loss, gesture has received limited research attention and much remains unknown about patterns of nonverbal behaviors in conversations in which hearing loss is a factor. This paper presents key elements of the background of gesture studies and the theories of gesture function and production followed by a review of research focused on adults with hearing loss and the role of gesture and gaze in rehabilitation. The current examination of the visual resource of co-speech gesture in the context of everyday interactions involving adults with acquired hearing loss suggests the need for the development of an evidence base to effect enhancements and changes in the way in which rehabilitation services are conducted.

The Task-Evoked Pupil Response in Divided Auditory Attention Tasks.

BACKGROUND: Successful processing of complex auditory information relies on the interplay between low-level sensory processing and higher-level cognitive processing. However, the extent to which specific auditory processing tasks rely on cognitive processing as opposed to lower-level sensory processing is unclear. The task-evoked pupil response (TEPR) can quantify the cognitive load that complex listening tasks elicit. Previous research by Koelewijn et al (2014) indicated that dividing attention across two sentences presented dichotically resulted in larger pupil dilation (indicative of greater cognitive load) compared with selectively attending to one. However, it was unclear whether the larger pupil dilation measured during the divided attention task were the result of dividing attention or were due to the increased memory demand inherent to that task. PURPOSE: The first aim of the current study was to address the above issue of memory demand by comparing pupil dilation between divided and selective auditory attention tasks, while keeping memory and response load constant. The second aim was to further clarify the influence of memory demands on TEPRs in these auditory tasks by comparing the pupil dilation recorded to measures of participants' digit memory capacity. RESEARCH DESIGN: A repeated measures design was used. Each participant undertook two selective and three divided auditory attention tasks, generated by varying the specific instructions before each condition of the dichotic digits test (DDT). In addition, participants completed forward and reverse digit span (DS) tasks. STUDY SAMPLE: Thirty-one otologically healthy adults (aged 18-40 years) participated in this study. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: A repeated measures analysis of variance was used to compare mean and peak pupil dilation between the selective and divided attention tasks. Spearman correlation analyses were used to examine potential relationships between DS scores and mean and peak pupil dilation elicited by the DDT conditions. RESULTS: Participants demonstrated larger mean and peak pupil dilation (indicative of greater cognitive load) when they were required to divide their attention across both ears than when they were required to selectively attend to input in one ear. DS scores were not significantly correlated with mean or peak pupil dilation measures. CONCLUSIONS: Auditory divided attention tasks involve significantly greater cognitive load than auditory selective attention tasks, even when memory demands are equal. In addition, mean and peak pupil dilation generated during the DDT are not significantly associated with digit memory capacity. The findings indicate that poor performance on tasks involving divided attention may be due to a cognitive deficit as opposed to an auditory processing deficit. Clinicians should consider this when using divided attention tasks in auditory processing assessments.

Effectiveness of video-based modelling to facilitate conversational turn taking of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder who use AAC.

This study evaluated and compared the effectiveness of packaged video modelling (VM) and video self-modelling (VSM) interventions to develop conversational behaviors with four adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who used augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The study was conducted using an alternating treatments design nested within a multiple baseline design. The intervention effect was measured using Robust-Improvement Rate Difference (R-IRD). The results demonstrated that, overall, video-based modelling used in conjunction with a system of least prompts was effective in promoting conversation skills in adolescents with ASD who used AAC. Without the systematic instruction, R-IRD indicated that these techniques yielded only small to moderate intervention effects. The findings demonstrated the necessity of systematic instruction for this group of participants. This investigation provides preliminary evidence to support the use of packaged video-based modelling interventions to develop conversation skills in adolescents with ASD who use AAC systems.

The Effect of Increased Cognitive Demand on Auditory Processing Assessment.

BACKGROUND: Auditory processing (AP) is commonly regarded as the perceptual processing of auditory information in the central nervous system. However, the degree to which higher level cognitive processes are involved in AP or its disorders is contentious. Furthermore, there is little evidence regarding the effects of nonauditory cognitive processes on the various tests of AP in common clinical usage and thus on clinical diagnoses of auditory processing disorder. PURPOSE: To determine the effects of increased cognitive demand, generated by using a dual-task paradigm, on performance on different AP tests and types of AP tests in common clinical usage. In addition, to investigate the relationship between executive function and changes in AP test performance associated with increased cognitive demand. RESEARCH DESIGN: Counterbalanced repeated measures design, with assessment of AP test performance both on its own and in a dual-task paradigm designed to increase cognitive demand. STUDY SAMPLE: Twenty-nine young adults, with no reported hearing, learning, language or attention difficulties, English as first language, and hearing and middle-ear status within normal limits. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Testing was completed within a single 90-min session. A selection of standard AP tests, representing both adaptive and nonadaptive tests, as well as tests employing difference scores, was administered. These were Competing Sentences Test, Dichotic Digits Test, Frequency Pattern Test (nonadaptive tests); and Listening in Spatialized Noise-Sentences test, conditions "same-voice, 0°", "different-voice, 0°", and "same-voice, 90°" (adaptive tests), from which the difference scores "talker advantage" and "spatial advantage" were also derived. Each AP test was completed on its own (alone condition), and simultaneously with a visually presented task (dual-task condition). Executive function was assessed using the phonemic subtest of the Verbal Fluency Test. Nonparametric statistical test procedures were used. RESULTS: All five AP measures obtained from the nonadaptive tests showed a significant performance decrement in the dual-task condition compared with the alone condition, with one exception because of a strong ceiling effect. By contrast, none of the three AP measures obtained from the adaptive tests showed a significant performance decrement in the dual-task condition. Furthermore, neither of the two AP measures based on difference scores showed a significant performance decrement, but this finding simply reflects the lack of significant decrements in the relevant raw scores. Consistent with past reports of associations between executive function and AP performance, a significant positive correlation was found between executive function scores and performance on the Dichotic Digits Test. However, there were no significant correlations between executive function scores and changes in AP test scores between alone and dual-task conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Performance on commonly used nonadaptive tests of AP was significantly compromised by the increased cognitive demand resulting from the dual-task paradigm. By contrast, performance on AP measures obtained by adaptive test procedures was not significantly affected. Further investigation of the resilience to increased cognitive demand of the adaptive tests used here, and other adaptive tests of AP, is warranted. Results from this study support the further development of computerized adaptive tests of AP for use in clinical test batteries.

Familiar communication partners' facilitation of topic management in conversations with individuals with dementia.

BACKGROUND: Language and memory impairments affect everyday interactions between individuals with dementia and their communication partners. Impaired topic management, which compromises individuals' construction of relevant, meaningful discourse, is commonly reported amongst individuals with dementia. Currently, limited empirical evidence describes the sequential patterns of behaviour comprising topic-management practices in everyday conversation between individuals with dementia and their communication partners. AIMS: To describe the sequential patterns of behaviour relating to the manifestation of topic-management impairments and facilitative behaviours in everyday interactions between individuals with dementia and their familiar communication partners (FCPs). METHODS & PROCEDURES: Three 20-min conversations between individuals with moderate to severe dementia and their FCPs were recorded. Conversation Analysis was used to examine sequences in which topic-management appeared to be impaired. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: Conversational behaviours that reflected a difficulty in contributing on-topic talk were pervasive in the talk of the three individuals with dementia. FCPs responded to these conversational difficulties by using two categories of facilitative behaviours. The first involved responding to an individual with dementia's explicit repair-initiation by performing repair. In the second category, explicit repair-initiation was absent; instead, the distance of the conversational difficulty from the prior topic-shifting turn mediated the form and outcome of the FCPs' facilitative behaviours. Each category successfully facilitated the individual with dementia to contribute on-topic talk. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: The findings contribute to a growing understanding of topic-management abilities in everyday interactions involving individuals with dementia. Individuals with dementia took a proactive role in eliciting topic-management support. The FCPs responded with turns that facilitated the individuals with dementia to talk on-topic. Clinically, the results support and extend the current topic-management recommendations available in communication partner training programmes, and promote conversations which attend to the personhood of the individual with dementia.

A conversation analytic study of patterns of overlapping talk in conversations between individuals with dementia and their frequent communication partners.

BACKGROUND: Difficulty participating in conversation is commonly experienced by individuals with dementia, secondary to cognitive and language deficits. Frequent communication partners (FCPs), however, report being largely unaware of how to support their conversation partners with dementia during conversation. In particular, taking a turn appropriately may be difficult for either partner due to trouble predicting a partner's behaviour and, hence, difficulty with timing conversational turns appropriately, potentially resulting in overlapping talk. AIMS: To investigate the patterns of overlapping talk in the interaction between individuals with dementia and their FCPs. METHODS & PROCEDURES: Three participants with moderate-severe dementia participated in conversation with an FCP. Ten minutes of 'casual' and 'task-oriented' conversation were audio- and video-recorded. Patterns of overlapping talk were investigated using conversation analytic methods. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: Overlapping talk was a consistent feature of all three dyadic interactions during both social and task-oriented talk. All participants exhibited competitive and non-competitive forms of overlapping talk. The data reveal that FCPs commonly yielded their own turns when overlapped by a partner in order to create opportunities for their partners with dementia to communicate. Participants with dementia demonstrated some retained pragmatic abilities, both using continuers and yielding the floor to their partner when competitively overlapped in order to encourage a speaker to continue. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: These findings contribute to the understanding of the impact of dementia on the maintenance of sensitivity to the sequential aspects of everyday talk. From a clinical perspective, these findings can inform the training of FCPs about retained abilities and evidence-based support strategies, equipping them with knowledge and skills to structure and maintain fluent conversation.

Noun and verb processing in Greek-English bilingual individuals with anomic aphasia and the effect of instrumentality and verb-noun name relation.

Noun and verb comprehension and production was investigated in two groups of late bilingual, Greek-English speakers: individuals with anomic aphasia and a control group of non-brain injured individuals matched for age and gender. There were no significant differences in verb or noun comprehension between the two groups in either language. However, verb and noun production during picture naming was significantly worse in the bilingual individuals with anomic aphasia in both languages, who also showed a specific verb impairment in Greek and English. The potential underlying level of breakdown of the specific verb impairment was further investigation with reference to two specific features of verbs: instrumentality and verb-noun relationship. Additional results revealed a facilitatory effect of Instrumentality in both languages. However, there was no effect of verb-noun name relation in Greek, and a negative effect of verb-noun name relation was observed in English. Lemma retrieval seemed to be intact in this group of bilingual individuals whose main problem seemed to arise during the retrieval of the phonological representation of the target word. This impairment was greater in English. The findings are discussed in terms of three current models of word production.