Visual information conveyed by a speaking face aids speech perception. In addition, children's ability to comprehend visual-only speech (speechreading ability) is related to phonological awareness and reading skills in both deaf and hearing children. We tested whether training speechreading would improve speechreading, phoneme blending, and reading ability in hearing children. Ninety-two hearing 4- to 5-year-old children were randomised into two groups: business-as-usual controls, and an intervention group, who completed three weeks of computerised speechreading training. The intervention group showed greater improvements in speechreading than the control group at post-test both immediately after training and 3 months later. This was the case for both trained and untrained words. There were no group effects on the phonological awareness or single-word reading tasks, although those with the lowest phoneme blending scores did show greater improvements in blending as a result of training. The improvement in speechreading in hearing children following brief training is encouraging. The results are also important in suggesting a hypothesis for future investigation: that a focus on visual speech information may contribute to phonological skills, not only in deaf children but also in hearing children who are at risk of reading difficulties. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBdpliGkbkY.

中文翻译：

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通过训练可以提高听力儿童的语音阅读能力

说话的面孔传达的视觉信息有助于语音感知。此外，儿童理解纯视觉语言的能力（语音阅读能力）与聋儿和听力儿童的语音意识和阅读能力有关。我们测试了训练语音阅读是否会提高听力儿童的语音阅读、音素混合和阅读能力。92 名听力为 4 至 5 岁的儿童被随机分为两组：常规控制组和干预组，他们完成了三周的计算机语音阅读训练。在训练后即刻和 3 个月后，干预组在测试后的语音阅读方面都比对照组有更大的改善。受过训练和未受过训练的单词都是如此。语音意识或单字阅读任务没有群体效应，尽管那些音素混合分数最低的人在训练后确实表现出更大的混合改进。经过简短培训后听力儿童的语音阅读能力的提高令人鼓舞。这些结果对于为未来的调查提出一个假设也很重要：关注视觉语音信息可能有助于语音技能，不仅对聋童，而且对有阅读困难风险的听力儿童也是如此。可以在 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBdpliGkbkY 上查看本文的视频摘要。经过简短培训后听力儿童的语音阅读能力的提高令人鼓舞。这些结果对于为未来的调查提出一个假设也很重要：关注视觉语音信息可能有助于语音技能，不仅对聋童，而且对有阅读困难风险的听力儿童也是如此。可以在 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBdpliGkbkY 上查看本文的视频摘要。经过简短培训后听力儿童的语音阅读能力的提高令人鼓舞。这些结果对于为未来的调查提出一个假设也很重要：关注视觉语音信息可能有助于语音技能，不仅对聋童，而且对有阅读困难风险的听力儿童也是如此。可以在 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBdpliGkbkY 上查看本文的视频摘要。