ASHA Learning Pass

Background talkers and noise negatively influence speech recognition, but far less is known about the effects of acoustic background competition on speech comprehension and memory. While accurate speech recognition is important for facilitating successful communication, comprehension and memory of the spoken message are essential functions for individuals communicating in the adverse acoustic environments of everyday life. This course discusses experiments that indicate that background voices and noise exert a negative influence on spoken narrative comprehension and memory, even when narratives have been presented at positive signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) that ensured accurate target speech recognition. Reports from patients in audiology clinics expressing that understanding speech in adverse environments is challenging beyond simply hearing the sounds are likely related to these phenomena.

This course is a recorded technical research session from the 2021 ASHA Convention Virtual Library (session 4632V).

Learning Outcomes
You will be able to:

• Explain how acoustic background competition influences spoken narrative comprehension in young adult listeners with normal hearing 
• Describe the methods and experimental design used in the current experiments to test the influence of acoustic background competition on spoken narrative comprehension 
• Identify the theoretical and clinical implications of negative effects of acoustic background competition on speech comprehension and memory, and how these effects may relate to real-world speech processing and memory deficits

Presenter Information

Dr. Peter A. Wasiuk (Presenting Author) is a clinical audiologist (University of Massachusetts Amherst, Class of 2018) and PhD candidate at Case Western Reserve University in the Department of Psychological Sciences. He works in the Speech and Auditory Research Laboratory (SpAR Lab) under the supervision of Dr. Lauren Calandruccio. His primary research interests are related to cognitive hearing science, spoken language processing, hearing loss, aging, and memory.

Financial Disclosures:

• None

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Gabriel Radvansky (Non-Presenting Author) is a Memory and Comprehension Cognitive Psychologist at the University of Notre Dame.

Financial Disclosures:

• None

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Robert Greene (Non-Presenting Author) is Professor of Psychological Sciences at Case Western Reserve University, received a PhD in experimental psychology from Yale University in 1984, is former editor of Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, and is former associate editor at Memory & Cognition and Journal of Memory and Language.

Financial Disclosures:

• None

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Lauren Calandruccio (Non-Presenting Author) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Case Western Reserve University.

Financial Disclosures:

• None

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Learning Assessment

Self-assessment—Think about what you learned and report on the Completion Form how you will use your new knowledge.

To earn continuing education credit, you must complete the learning assessment by June 20, 2027. 

Program History and CE Information

Content origination date: November 2021
End date: June 20, 2027

This course is offered for 0.05 ASHA CEUs (Intermediate level, Professional area).

Related Courses

View more sessions from the 2021 ASHA Convention, available exclusively in the ASHA Learning Pass.