Perceptual Restoration in Speechreading by Adults With Profound Hearing Loss

Perceptual restoration occurs when the brain restores missing segments from speech under certain conditions. It is investigated in the auditory modality, but minimal evidence has been collected during speechreading tasks. The authors measured perceptual restoration in speechreading by individuals with hearing loss and compared it to perceptual restoration in auditory speech by normally hearing individuals. Visual perceptual restoration for speechreading was measured in 33 individuals with profound hearing loss by blurring the keywords in silent video recordings of a speaker uttering a sentence. Auditory perceptual restoration was measured in 33 normally hearing individuals by distorting the keywords in spoken sentences. It was found that the amount of restoration was similar for speechreading through the visual modality by individuals with hearing loss and speech perception through the auditory modality by normally hearing individuals. These findings may facilitate understanding of speech processing by individuals with hearing loss.