Repair strategy usage by hearing-impaired adults and changes following communication therapy

This investigation documented how hearing-impaired individuals use communication repair strategies in structured settings and determined whether these strategies could be changed by communication therapy. Eight hearing- impaired adults with mild to severe sensorineural hearing losses practiced using five repair strategies when they did not correctly speechread a videotaped sentence. The strategies included asking the talker to (a) repeat the sentence, (b) simplify it, (c) rephrase it, (d) say an important key word, and (e) speak two sentences. Therapy consisted of computerized interactive activities and role-playing with a clinician. Seven hearing- impaired adults served as control subjects and received no therapy. Before and during therapy, subjects usually wanted a misperceived sentence to be repeated. On average, subjects changed their use of repair strategies following therapy. They utilized the repeat strategy less often and other strategies more often.