Projects > RERC-HE Projects

Project 5 - CASPER: The Development of Auditory Self-Training Materials

Investigators

Arthur Boothroyd, Ph.D. - San Diego

Purpose of Study

Development of computer-based self-instructional software to speed and optimize adaptation to changed hearing in adults with acquired hearing loss.

Description

Software presents story material one sentence at a time. User repeats before seeing text and clicking on words correct. Task difficulty is controlled by selecting: noise level, talker speed, and/or the number of words revealed before a sentence is heard. Performance is logged in terms of percent words correct in 100 words and speed in words per minute. Additional performance data can be collected with sets of topic-related sentences (CUNY material), and isolated monosyllables (AB word lists). These data also provide information on generalization to new talkers and new materials.

The design is based on the hypothesis that performance improvement will depend on: a) time on task; b) increased use of sentence context. Two kinds of learning are hypothesized: a) learning new relationships between language patterns and auditory sensations (acclimatization); b) modifying perceptual strategy. 

Progress

Version 5.0 of the software is completed and is available for evaluation of: a) acceptability, ease of delivery, ease of use, perceived value, etc., by adults with hearing loss; b) self-assessed and actual changes in auditory speech-perception performance, and the nature, correlates, and predictors of such changes.

Recent Publications and/or Presentations

• Boothroyd A (2008). CasperSent: a program for computer-assisted speech-perception testing and training at the sentence level. Journal of the Academy of Rehabilitative Audiology, 41, 31-50.
• Boothroyd A (2010). Adaptation to changed hearing: the potential benefits of formal training. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, in press.
• Boothroyd A (2008). The Performance/Intensity function: an underused resource. Ear and Hearing, 29, 479-491.
• Bigler S (2010). The influence of signal-to-noise ratio on percent recognition of phonemes in words, words in isolation, and words in sentences. Unpublished student research project report, SDSU/UCSD Doctor of Audiology program, San Diego.
• Boothroyd, A. Adapting to hearing loss: potential benefits of formal speech-perception training. Presentation to Conference on : The ear-brain system: approaches to the study and treatment of hearing loss. National center for rehabilitative auditory research. Portland, OR October 2009.

Contact Information

Arthur Boothroyd

Email - aboothroyd@cox.net

Phone - (619) 550-8951

Other Information

The student project listed above was carried out under the supervision of Dr. Boothroyd and employed a beta version of the AudioCasper software. Its purpose was to acquire normative data on performance as a function of signal-to-noise ratio.