This study investigates the impact of Major Depressive Disorder and its characteristic psychomotor slowing on speech intelligibility. The speech-in-noise intelligibility task involved 176 native English-speaking listeners and 9 speakers with speech from 2 speaker states: very severe depression and in remission. Speaker intelligibility was rated across three signal-to-noise-ratio levels (-2, 0, and +2 dB)....
Audiologists assessing speech perception in noise should be aware that Major Depressive Disorder with psychomotor slowing may independently reduce a patient's speech intelligibility, potentially confounding standard audiological testing results.
If depression systematically degrades speech production clarity, audiologists may need to account for mental health status when interpreting speech-in-noise test outcomes or fitting hearing devices.
- 01Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) with psychomotor slowing was linked to reduced speech intelligibility in noise.