Situational cues in visual speech perception by geriatric subjects.

Situational cues have been known to enhance visual speech perception. In the present study the influence of relevant and nonrelevant visual and auditory background information on visual perception of everyday sentences was measured in geriatric subjects using videotaped material. Results indicated that visual speech perception with relevant situational cues was significantly different from performance when nonrelevant cues were provided and when situational cues were absent. Individual subject deviations in performance were noted and their therapeutic implications were presented.