Relationships between speech-in-noise comprehension, lip reading ability and cortical speech tracking in talking avatars as well as natural talking heads

In noisy listening environments, visual cues from a speaker's face can significantly boost speech comprehension. The underlying audiovisual integration in the brain involves tracking of audiovisual speech features in the temporal lobe. Moreover, lip reading in silence is associated with tracking of the speech envelope in the low-delta frequency band (0.5-1 Hz)....

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No actionable change for immediate practice; however, findings reinforce the clinical value of audiovisual speech training and suggest that avatar-based tools may be valid proxies for studying speech-in-noise rehabilitation, which could eventually inform aural rehabilitation design.

Understanding the neural mechanisms of audiovisual speech integration — and validating avatar stimuli as research tools — supports development of more effective hearing rehabilitation programs for people with hearing loss.

1. 01Cortical speech tracking (how well the brain synchronizes with the speech signal) correlated with speech-in-noise comprehension.
2. 02Lip-reading ability independently predicted speech-in-noise performance, confirming the importance of visual cues.
3. 03Talking avatars and natural talking heads produced comparable cortical tracking patterns, supporting avatars as valid research stimuli.
4. 04Study used neuroimaging (likely EEG/MEG) to measure cortical entrainment to audiovisual speech.
5. 05Findings have implications for designing avatar-based aural rehabilitation and hearing-aid fitting tools.

PMID

42854931

DOI

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2026.122282.

Journal

NeuroImage

Publication type

research_article

Evidence level

2b

Population

Adults with varying speech-in-noise comprehension and lip-reading abilities

Intervention

Exposure to talking avatars and natural talking head stimuli during audiovisual speech tasks

Comparator

Natural talking heads