How context shapes how we hear speech in people with and without hearing loss
Official title: Perception of speech in context by listeners with healthy and impaired hearing
Funded at Marquette University · NIH-11144372 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project studies how surrounding sounds affect how people hear speech, including those with hearing loss, with the goal of making speech easier to understand in real-world listening environments.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Marquette University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Milwaukee, United States) |
| Project start | September 22, 2022 |
| Project end | July 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $270,881 |
| NIH project number | 5R01DC020303-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11144372 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults with normal hearing or hearing impairment who can participate in listening experiments and provide informed consent.
✕Less likely to help
Persons who cannot participate in listening tests or have conditions that prevent reliable testing may not benefit.
What this research studies
Hearing is not just about individual sounds; the surrounding background sounds influence how we perceive speech. This grant will test how different contextual sounds change speech perception in people with normal hearing and those with hearing impairment. Researchers will use behavioral tests to measure perception under varied listening conditions and compare results between groups. The findings could inform better hearing aid and cochlear implant strategies to improve communication in noisy places.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the work could lead to improved speech perception for people with hearing loss in everyday situations.
How similar studies have gone: Previous research shows context effects influence speech perception, but the exact mechanisms in hearing-impaired listeners are not fully understood.
Where this research is happening
-
Marquette University
Milwaukee, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Stilp, Christian Edmund — Marquette University
- Study coordinator: Stilp, Christian Edmund
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Silent speech interface using a wearable tongue tracker to help people after laryngectomy communicate
A wearable system with tongue sensors and intraoral components aims to let people without a vocal cord use natural-sounding speech in daily life.
-
Overlap between how we speak and how we hold words in memory
A Duke-led project studies how the brain that talks relates to keeping verbal information in working memory, using advanced brain recordings from patients already undergoing medical care.
-
AI-powered system to improve teamwork in cardiac surgery
A research project is testing an AI-driven system that listens to team conversations during heart surgeries to spot teamwork patterns and give real-time feedback to improve patient safety.
-
Caregiver Speech and Infant Brain Development in Siblings of Children with Autism
This project follows babies who have an older sibling with autism to explore how caregiver talk and everyday interactions relate to early brain and behavior development.
-
How speech and swallowing work in people with Down syndrome
Researchers will look at how differences in the mouth, throat, and brain affect speech clarity and safe swallowing in children and adults with Down syndrome.
-
Information and social media use for autism info in young children
A research project looks at how speech-language pathologists and parents of young autistic children use social media for information and what makes that information trustworthy.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.