"難聴のある高齢者に話しかける際に，聞き取りを助ける方法の１つとして，文節の間をあけて話すことが推奨されている。こうした文節休止が文の聴取に与える効果について，模擬難聴システムを用いて高齢者の聴力をシミュレーションし，若年健聴者を対象に聴取実験を行なって検討した。その結果，文節休止0.6 秒，文節休止0.1秒，文節休止なしの順に文聴取の正答率が高く，文節休止は聞き取りの向上につながると考えられた。また，ごく短い0.1 秒の休止でも，一定の効果があることが示唆された。
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When speaking to elderly people with hard of hearing, it is commonly recommended to insert short pauses between phrases of a sentence in order to assist their listening comprehension. In this study, the　effectiveness of inter-phrase pausing for listening comprehension of sentences was investigated by simulating elderly people’s hearing utilizing a hearing impairment simulator. Young adults with normal hearing participated in an experiment in which they listened to sentences through the hearing impairment simulator and were asked to repeat the sentences as they heard them. The results showed that the correct answer rate was highest with a 0.6 second pausing, followed by a 0.1 second pausing, and lowest when sentences were presented without pausing. It can be concluded that inter-phrase pausing facilitates listening comprehension of sentences and even a very short pausing of 0.1 second is effective.

原著