Individual differences in top-down restoration of interrupted speech: Links to linguistic and cognitive abilities

Abstract

Top-down restoration mechanisms can enhance perception of degraded speech. Even in normal hearing, however, a large variability has been observed in how effectively individuals can benefit from these mechanisms. To investigate if this variability is partially caused by individuals' linguistic and cognitive skills, normal-hearing participants of varying ages were assessed for receptive vocabulary (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test; PPVT-III-NL), for full-scale intelligence (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale; WAIS-IV-NL), and for top-down restoration of interrupted speech (with silent or noise-filled gaps). Receptive vocabulary was significantly correlated with the other measures, suggesting linguistic skills to be highly involved in restoration of degraded speech.