Measuring Communication Effectiveness in Noise with Normal Hearing Dyads using the Diapix Task

Abstract

Studies of speech perception indicate that it is more difficult for people with and without hearing loss to detect speech in noise. Functional communication in noise, however, has been less often studied; there is currently no well-designed measure of communication effectiveness. The Diapix Task (Baker & Hazan, 2011) has potential; it elicits dialogue by having two people converse to find differences between two pictures. The purpose of the present study was to develop a reliable measure of communication effectiveness and use this measure to determine how noise influences communication. Experiment 1 investigated use of the Diapix Task as a measure of communication effectiveness in noise. Seven young adults with normal hearing, paired with an assistant, completed the Task with three different picture pairs in a sound field of cafeteria noise. Communication effectiveness was measured by counting communication breakdowns. Results indicated that the Task did elicit breakdowns and, out of nine picture pairs, one elicited a different amount of breakdowns than the others; this pair was excluded. Experiment 2 used the Diapix Task to measure communication effectiveness in quiet and different types of noise. Relation between self-reported use of communication strategies and communication effectiveness was also explored. Fourteen young adults with normal hearing completed the Diapix Task with an assistant in three conditions: quiet, cafeteria noise, and competing dialogue. Results indicated that significantly more breakdowns occurred in noise than quiet, but that there was no significant difference between types of noise. Additionally, self-reported use of communication strategies did not correlate with communication effectiveness. Results support use of the Diapix Task as a functional measure of communication effectiveness in young adults with normal hearing; future research should investigate use of the Diapix Task to measure communication effectiveness in clinical populations.