Speech-in-Noise Ability and Signal to Noise Ratio Predict the Timing of Hearing-Impaired Listeners' Intertalker Saccades When Observing Conversational Turn-Taking: An Explorative Investigation.
Martha M Shiell, Sergi Rotger-Griful, Martin A Skoglund and 2 others
PMID 40660457WHAT IT FOUND
Hearing-impaired listeners with poorer speech-in-noise ability looked at the new speaker 100 milliseconds later than those with better ability.
Eye movement timing did not change linearly with background noise levels, delaying at both the hardest and easiest settings.
Key findings
01Participants with low speech-in-noise ability showed a 100-millisecond delay in eye movements to the new speaker compared to those with high ability.
02The relationship between noise levels and eye movement timing was U-shaped, with delays occurring at both the most difficult (-4 dB) and easiest (8 dB) signal-to-noise ratios compared to moderate levels.
03The study was exploratory and the effect of speech-in-noise ability was only detected when participants were grouped into high and low ability, not when analyzed as a continuous variable.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Very small sample size (17 participants) limits the reliability of the findings. The study was exploratory and post-hoc grouping was used to find significant results, increasing the risk of false positives. The easiest noise condition (8 dB) had very few data points (only 4 participants), making the delay found in this condition unstable. The measure of speech-in-noise ability used single words, which may not fully represent the complexity of conversational speech. The authors are employed by a hearing aid manufacturer, which may influence study design or interpretation.
Declared interests
All authors are employed by Oticon A/S, a hearing aid manufacturer. The research was supported by the Swedish Research Council. The authors declare they maintained editorial control and have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that eye-tracking timing is a reliable clinical measure of hearing difficulty. The results were mixed, with no linear relationship to noise levels, and the effect of speech-in-noise ability was only seen when participants were artificially grouped into high and low categories rather than analyzed continuously.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →