The effects of background noise and working memory capacity on speechreading performance

The effects of background noise and working memory capacity an speechreading performance. Lyxell, B. and Ronnberg, J, (Department of Education and Psychology, Linkoping University, S-581 83 Linkoping.Sweden). Scand Audio/ 1993; 22: 67-70. The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of background noise and working memory capacity on speechreading performance. The results displayed no differences in speechreading performance (i.e. on a word-test and on a sentence-test) due to background noise. When working memory capacity was correlated with speechreading, only tine of the two tests of working memory rapacity (i.e. the reading span task) was found to be related to speechreading performance. This relationship applies to both speechreading tests, but only to one specific background noise condition in the tests: meaningful noise. The results are discussed with respect to the demands of simultaneous storage and processing in working memory and how these demands apply to speech-based noise distractors. It was also concluded that although performance was similar across different background noise conditions, they apparently engage different components of the individual's cognitive system.