Groundbreaking research from McGill University has revealed the crucial link between hearing and the ability to speak effectively. The study, published in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, sheds light on how our brains coordinate the movements of the jaw and tongue to produce speech, and how this process is disrupted when we can’t hear our own voices. This finding has significant implications for understanding speech challenges faced by individuals with hearing loss, particularly those using cochlear implants. The study also points to new therapeutic approaches that could help these individuals regain their speech capabilities.
Auditory feedback is imperative
This new study by McGill University provides a fundamental truth: that our ability to speak properly relies on the ability to hear ourselves in real-time. Under two listening conditions—one in which they could hear their speech and one in which it was masked by multi-talker noise—the research team, led by Matthew Masapollo, tracked jaw and tongue-tip movements using electromagnetic articulography (EMA) in people with normal hearing.
What they found was striking: When participants could only hear ambient sounds and their own speech was temporarily blocked, their ability to coordinate and control the movements of their vocal tract declined. It seems that when people need to coordinate and control the intricate movements necessary for speech production, they are calling on immediate auditory feedback.
What This Means For Deaf Individuals
These results of the study have important implications in the context of speech production deficits experienced by hearing-impaired individuals, specifically users of cochlear implants. Masapollo says, “We found that some parts of speech production are still impaired even several years post-implantation — evidence that the auditory signals provided by CIs are simply not good enough for holding a conversation under noisy conditions.” Rant: Unfortunately the ability to communicate is a vital part of life-social interactions, etc…The Next post will be the last rant!
The scientist propose that the deaf participants might be depending more on sensory feedback from their mouth and tongue movements than they are on auditory feedback in order to produce speech. If confirmed, it could mean the potential development of new therapeutic interventions centered on oral-motor training to help children and adults with hearing damage recover their speech.
Deciphering The Mysteries Of Speech Production
A study of this magnitude at McGill University further contributes to our knowledge of speech production, a complex and arduous process. The researchers have uncovered an important contribution of auditory feedback to the NAMED effect, highlighting opportunities for further research and clinical applications.
Masapollo is now working with other researchers to find out how the lessened sound input from cochlear implants affects the speech individuals produce after receiving it. These initial results raise the possibility that developing a clearer picture of how hearing loss and cochlear implantation disrupt speech production may translate into better treatment strategies.
As the investigators said, these findings “have implications for the development of new intervention strategies designed to assist children and adults with hearing loss in learning to talk and function better, resulting ultimately in improving their quality of life and integration into society.”
