Virtual reality (VR) can be used to make audiometric test conditions more realistic
in everyday life after fitting a cochlear implant (CI). The aim of the study was to
investigate the impact of lip-reading (animated vs. real video recording presentation)
on speech perception in noise in CI users. Speech perception was measured with the
Oldenburg sentence test with a male speaker (OLSA_m) with and without an animated
avatar of a speaker in 16 normal-hearing (NH) and 17 CI users. Furthermore, the speech
reception threshold (SRT) in noise was determined in the OLSA with video recordings
of a female speaker (OLSA_w) with and without presentation of the video in 13 NH and
12 bilateral CI users. The presentation of animated mouth images using an avatar (OLS_m)
led to an average improvement in speech intelligibility of 18.5 percentage points
in the NH group, while speech perception improved by an average of 7.5 percentage
points in the CI group. With video presentation of the OLSA speaker (OLSA_w), the
SVS improved by 1.6 dB in the NH group and by 3.5 dB in the CI group. In both subject
groups, a positive effect of lip-reading on speech perception was shown by computerized
animations. When using real video recordings (female AV-OLSA), the effect was significantly
stronger, with the CI group benefiting the most from the presentation of the mouth
image.
