Multisensory narrative tracking by a profoundly deaf subject using an electrocutaneous vocoder and a vibrotactile aid
Abstract
A congenitally, profoundly deaf adult who had received 41 hours of tactual word recognition training in a previous study was assessed in tracking of connected discourse. This assessment was conducted in three phases. In the first phase, the subject used the Tacticon 1600 electrocutaneous vocoder to track a narrative in three conditions: (a) lipreading and aided hearing (L+H), (b) lipreading and tactual vocoder (L+TV), and (c) lipreading, tactual vocoder, and aided hearing (L+TV+H). Subject performance was significantly better in the L+TV+H condition than in the L+H condition, suggesting that the subject benefitted from the additional information provided by the tactual vocoder. In the second phase, the Tactaid II vibrotactile aid was used in three conditions: (a) lipreading alone, (b) lipreading and tactual aid (L+TA), and (c) lipreading, tactual aid, and aided hearing (L+TA+H). The subject was able to combine cues from te Tactaid II with those from lipreading and aided hearing. In the third phase, both tactual devices were used in six conditions: (a) lipreading alone (L), (b) lipreading and aided hearing (L+H), (c) lipreading and Tactaid II (L+TA), (d) lipreading and Tacticon 1600 (L+TV), (e) lipreading, Tactaid II, and aided hearing (L+TA+H), and (f) lipreading, Tacticon 1600, and aided hearing (L+TV+H). In this phase, only the Tactaid II significantly improved tracking performance over lipreading and aided hearing. Overall, improvement in tacking performance occurred within and across phases of this study.
Publication Title
Journal of Speech and Hearing Research
Recommended Citation
Lynch, M., Eilers, R., Kimbrough Oller, D., Urbano, R., & Pero, P. (1989). Multisensory narrative tracking by a profoundly deaf subject using an electrocutaneous vocoder and a vibrotactile aid. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 32 (2), 331-338. https://doi.org/10.1044/jshr.3202.331
