BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of vowel context on the recognition of Kannada consonants in quiet for young adults. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 17 young adults with normal hearing in both ears participated in the study. The stimuli included consonant-vowel syllables, spoken by 12 native speakers of Kannada. Consonant recognition task was carried out as a closed-set (fourteen-alternative forced-choice). RESULTS: The present study showed an effect of vowel context on the perception of consonants. Maximum consonant recognition score was obtained in the /o/ vowel context, followed by the /a/ and /u/ vowel contexts, and then the /e/ context. Poorest consonant recognition score was obtained in the vowel context /i/. CONCLUSIONS: Vowel context has an effect on the recognition of Kannada consonants, and the vowel effect was unique for Kannada consonants.
Ear ; Hearing ; Humans ; Young Adult

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of vowel context on the recognition of Kannada consonants in quiet for young adults. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 17 young adults with normal hearing in both ears participated in the study. The stimuli included consonant-vowel syllables, spoken by 12 native speakers of Kannada. Consonant recognition task was carried out as a closed-set (fourteen-alternative forced-choice). RESULTS: The present study showed an effect of vowel context on the perception of consonants. Maximum consonant recognition score was obtained in the /o/ vowel context, followed by the /a/ and /u/ vowel contexts, and then the /e/ context. Poorest consonant recognition score was obtained in the vowel context /i/. CONCLUSIONS: Vowel context has an effect on the recognition of Kannada consonants, and the vowel effect was unique for Kannada consonants.
Ear ; Hearing ; Humans ; Young Adult

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of active listening and listening effort on the contralateral suppression of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (CSTEOAEs). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Twenty eight young adults participated in the study. Transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) were recorded using ‘linear’ clicks at 60 dB peSPL, in three contralateral noise conditions. In condition 1, TEOAEs were obtained in the presence of white noise in the contralateral ear. While, in condition 2, speech was embedded into white noise at +3, −3, and −9 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and delivered to the contralateral ear. The SNR was varied to investigate the effect of listening effort on the CSTEOAE. In condition 3, speech was played backwards and embedded into white noise at −3 dB SNR. The conditions 1 and 3 served as passive listening condition and the condition 2 served as active listening condition. In active listening condition, the participants categorized the words in to two groups (e.g., animal and vehicle). RESULTS: CSTEOAE was found to be largest in the presence of white noise, and the amount of CSTEOAE was not significantly different between active and passive listening conditions (condition 2 and 3). Listening effort had an effect on the CSTEOAE, the amount of suppression increased with listening effort, when SNR was decreased from +3 dB to −3 dB. However, when the SNR was further reduced to −9 dB, there was no further increase in the amount of CSTEOAE, instead there was a reduction in the amount of suppression. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the present study show that listening effort might affect CSTEOAE.
Animals ; Ear ; Humans ; Noise ; Signal-To-Noise Ratio ; Young Adult