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OBJECTIVE: To study linguistic context effects on speech perception by prelingually (N = 10) and postlingually (N = 10) hearing-impaired Hebrew-speaking adolescents and adults. DESIGN: Participants were cochlear implant surgery candidates with profound sensorineural hearing loss (95 dB HL+). Four levels of speech perception materials were presented through the auditory-visual modality: monosyllabic nonsense syllables (phonological content), monosyllabic meaningful words (semantic-lexical), sentences without presented topics (semantic-syntactic), and sentences with topics (topical). Data were analyzed via percentage correct recognition and via k andj factors (Boothroyd & Nittrouer, 1988). RESULTS: Both participant groups performed better when speech material having more contextual information was presented, with no significant intergroup differences. CONCLUSIONS: This similar usage of contextual information among prelingually and postlingually hearing-impaired participants is encouraging and suggests the role of factors other than age of onset.
Most et al. (Fri,) studied this question.