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Imperfect Captions Paired to Audiovisual Stimuli Improve Speech Recognition but Do Not Reduce Listening-Related Fatigue.

Purpose: Understanding speech in challenging environments can be fatiguing for individuals with and without hearing loss. Empirical research examining interventions to reduce such fatigue, however, is limited. Our study investigated the effects of imperfect captions, such as those created using auto...

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Published in:American Journal of Audiology Vol. 34; no. 3; pp. 661 - 676
Main Authors: Esser, Katie, Picou, Erin M., Hornsby, Benjamin W. Y.
Format: research tables/charts randomized controlled trial Journal Article
Published: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Sep2025
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      jtl: American Journal of Audiology
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      dt: Sep2025
      vid: 34
      iid: 3
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      pub: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
      place: Rockville, Maryland
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        187706690
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        10.1044/2025_AJA-25-00018
        187706690
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        atl: Imperfect Captions Paired to Audiovisual Stimuli Improve Speech Recognition but Do Not Reduce Listening-Related Fatigue.
      aug:
        au:
          Esser, Katie
          Picou, Erin M.
          Hornsby, Benjamin W. Y.
        affil: Department of Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology, Towson University, MD
      sug:
        subj:
          Audiovisuals
          Sensory Stimulation
          Speech Perception Evaluation
          Listening
          Automation
          Voice Recognition Systems
          Fatigue Prevention and Control
          Task Performance and Analysis
          Treatment Outcomes
          Environment
          Hearing Disorders
          Human
          Funding Source
          Adolescence
          Adult
          Middle Age
          Speech
          Pretest-Posttest Design
          Male
          Female
          Randomized Controlled Trials
          Random Assignment
          Descriptive Statistics
          Language Tests
          Analysis of Variance
          Memory Evaluation
          Cognition Evaluation
          Audiometry, Pure-Tone
          Empirical Research
          Data Analysis Software
          Post Hoc Analysis
          Comparative Studies
          Adolescent: 13-18 years
          Adult: 19-44 years
          Middle Aged: 45-64 years
          Male
          Female
      ab: Purpose: Understanding speech in challenging environments can be fatiguing for individuals with and without hearing loss. Empirical research examining interventions to reduce such fatigue, however, is limited. Our study investigated the effects of imperfect captions, such as those created using automated speech recognition systems, on listening-related fatigue during a challenging speech task. Method: Twenty-two adults (aged 18--63 years) with essentially normal hearing completed a sustained dual task designed to induce listening-related fatigue. The primary task was audiovisual sentence recognition in quiet, with speech levels individually adjusted for ~70% correct performance (without captions). The secondary task was response time (RT) to topic words presented during the speech task. Participants completed the dual task with or without captions. Subjective fatigue ratings were obtained before, during, and after the dual task. Vigilant attention was measured via the secondary task and before and after the dual task using visual stimuli (RTs to a visual marker presented at random intervals). Results: Subjective fatigue ratings increased significantly over the course of the dual task. However, this increase was larger for the group who had captions, even though they had better sentence recognition overall. Evidence of behavioral fatigue (slowed RTs over time) was also present but only for those in the Caption group. Anecdotal reports from study participants suggest that the increased fatigue for the Caption group was related to the cognitive challenge of combining information from the time-locked audiovisual cues and the time-delayed, and imperfect, text captions. Conclusions: Even though they were time-delayed and contained inaccuracies, captions improved speech recognition. However, this benefit was accompanied by greater increases in subjective and behavioral fatigue. Therefore, in some conditions imperfect captions can have negative consequences for listening-related fatigue. Further research is needed to determine whether this pattern holds in different circumstances, such as with audio-only stimuli. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.29646482
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        randomized controlled trial
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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