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. 2005 Oct;44(10):551-8.
doi: 10.1080/14992020500243893.

Effects of a cochlear implant simulation on immediate memory in normal-hearing adults

Rose A Burkholder  1 , David B Pisoni, Mario A Svirsky
Affiliations

Effects of a cochlear implant simulation on immediate memory in normal-hearing adults

Rose A Burkholder et al. Int J Audiol. 2005 Oct.

Abstract

This study assessed the effects of stimulus misidentification and memory processing errors on immediate memory span in 25 normal-hearing adults exposed to degraded auditory input simulating signals provided by a cochlear implant. The identification accuracy of degraded digits in isolation was measured before digit span testing. Forward and backward digit spans were shorter when digits were degraded than when they were normal. Participants' normal digit spans and their accuracy in identifying isolated digits were used to predict digit spans in the degraded speech condition. The observed digit spans in degraded conditions did not differ significantly from predicted digit spans. This suggests that the decrease in memory span is related primarily to misidentification of digits rather than memory processing errors related to cognitive load. These findings provide complementary information to earlier research on auditory memory span of listeners exposed to degraded speech either experimentally or as a consequence of a hearing-impairment.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mean digit span scores in the degraded and normal speech conditions. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Frequency distribution of the digit identification scores.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mean predicted digit span scores and observed digit spans in the degraded speech condition. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Mean proportion of errors committed by participants in the digit span task under degraded speech conditions in (A) forward and (B) backward recall conditions. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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