Accented Speech Perception in Noise After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Purpose: Perceiving nonnative-accented speech is a cognitively demanding task that requires additional cognitive effort compared to perceiving native-accented speech. People who have experienced a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI; also commonly referred to as concussion) report impairments in an over-lapping set of cognitive capacities, leading to the prediction that the perception of nonnative-accented speech may be even more difficult than it would be for someone without a history of brain injury. Of interest is whether people who have suffered an mTBI find nonnative-accented speech less intelligible and whether they report experiencing more cognitive symptoms than controls when perceiving nonnative-accented speech. Method: Adults with a positive history of concussion (n = 52) and without a his-tory of concussion (n = 69) completed a speech perception in noise (SPIN) task varying in talker accent and signal-to-noise ratio level. To assess the perceived demand of this task and its influence on concussion-related symptoms, participants rated various cognitive symptom levels throughout the task. Results: Findings from this study show that, compared to healthy controls, those with a history of concussion may be differentially affected in their experience completing a SPIN task with a nonnative-accented talker. More strikingly, those with a history of mTBI presented significant differences in irritability, and somewhat reduced levels of energy and increased headache levels, when listening to speech in challenging conditions compared to individuals who have never had a brain injury. Conclusions: Individuals who have had a concussion in the past may experience mild impairments in perception of nonnative-accented speech in noise. Additionally, challenging listening conditions may exacerbate existing symptoms associated with mTBI.