title: Cognitive spare capacity and speech communication: a narrative overview.
abstract: Background noise can make speech communication tiring and cognitively taxing, especially for individuals with hearing impairment. It is now well established that better working memory capacity is associated with better ability to understand speech under adverse conditions as well as better ability to benefit from the advanced signal processing in modern hearing aids. Recent work has shown that although such processing cannot overcome hearing handicap, it can increase cognitive spare capacity, that is, the ability to engage in higher level processing of speech. This paper surveys recent work on cognitive spare capacity and suggests new avenues of investigation.
authors: Linnaeus Centre HEAD, Swedish Institute for Disability Research, Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, 581 83 Linköping, Sweden.
authors: Mary
authors: 0000-0001-8722-8232
authors: M
authors: Rudner
authors: Linnaeus Centre HEAD, Swedish Institute for Disability Research, Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, 581 83 Linköping, Sweden ; Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, 581 83 Linköping, Sweden ; Eriksholm Research Centre, Oticon A/S, 3070 Snekkersten, Denmark.
authors: Thomas
authors: 0000-0001-7101-7561
authors: T
authors: Lunner
mesh_terms: D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*