Lexical Bias During Speech Perception Increases Under Signal Degradation but Not Cognitive Load

Lexical information shapes the interpretation of ambiguous speech sounds, often biasing perception toward real words rather than nonwords-a phenomenon known as lexical bias. This study examined the extent to which signal degradation and cognitive load modulate this bias.

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No actionable change for clinical practice; this is a psycholinguistic/basic-science finding clarifying mechanisms of speech perception under degradation and cognitive load, relevant to researchers studying adverse-condition listening.

Understanding that lexical bias increases under acoustic degradation but not cognitive load refines our models of speech processing, which can inform the design of listening tests and hearing-device evaluations in noise.

1. 01Lexical bias (using word knowledge to interpret unclear speech) increases when signal quality is poor.
2. 02Cognitive load (mental task demands) did not increase lexical bias, distinguishing two types of listening difficulty.
3. 03Findings published in Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research (JSLHR).
4. 04Results suggest signal degradation and cognitive load affect speech perception through different mechanisms.
5. 05Implications for understanding how people with hearing loss cope in challenging listening conditions.

PMID

42610990

DOI

10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-01005.

Journal

Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research

Publication type

research_article

Evidence level

2b

Population

Participants in a controlled speech perception experiment (population details not specified in abstract)

Intervention

Signal degradation conditions and cognitive load conditions during speech perception tasks

Comparator

Normal/undegraded speech signal; low cognitive load baseline