THE EFFECTS OF BACKGROUND-NOISE AND WORKING MEMORY CAPACITY ON SPEECHREADING PERFORMANCE

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of backgrou nd noise and working memory capacity on speechreading performance. The results displayed no differences in speechreading performance (i.e. o n a word-test and on a sentence-test) due to background noise. When wo rking memory capacity was correlated with speechreading, only one of t he two tests of working memory capacity (i.e. the reading span task) w as found to be related to speechreading performance. This relationship applies to both speechreading tests, but only to one specific backgro und noise condition in the tests: meaningful noise. The results are di scussed with respect to the demands of simultaneous storage and proces sing in working memory and how these demands apply to speech-based noi se distractors. It was also concluded that although performance was si milar across different background noise conditions, they apparently en gage different components of the individual's cognitive system.