Influência do aumento da velocidade da reprodução de áudio na cognição e na compreensão oral de universitários

Abstract

Introduction: Changes in the playback speed of audiovisual and educational materials have been widely used by university students. However, there is no evidence regarding the impact of this practice on the listener's cognition and the comprehension of the reproduced material. Objective: To verify the influence of increased audio playback speed on cognition and oral comprehension of university students. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional observational study, in which all participants signed an informed consent form. The target stimuli (commands of the cognition and oral comprehension tests used in this research) were recorded by a 38-year-old woman with no vocal or speech disorders. The participants who heard these commands were university students in a health course aged 18 to 37 years. Participants who reported neurodevelopmental alterations, sequelae of acquired neurological diseases, self reported hearing loss and who reported the use of recreational psychoactives were excluded. The commands used in the cognitive and comprehension tests were the rapports of the Neupsilin, Montreal Toulouse Language Assessment Battery (MTL) and Montreal Brief Communication Assessment Battery (MAC) tests, which are standardized and validated. Each participant was randomized to one of five groups, according to the audio playback speed (group 1 - normal speed; group 2 - 1.25x; group 3 - 1.5x; group 4 - 1.75x and group 5 - 2.0x). For statistical analysis, a significance level of 5% was considered, and performance between groups was compared using the ANOVA test or its non-parametric counterpart, the Kruskal-Wallis. Results: The sample consisted of 150 participants distributed in the speed groups 1x, 1.25x, 1.50x, 1.75x and 2.00x). The mean age was 22.7 ± 3.87 (from 18 to 37 years). Regarding gender, the majority reported being women (104; 69.3%). The cognitive abilities most affected by the increase in speed were working memory (ascending ordering of digits) and oral repetition (pseudowords and total repetition). In the total and partial retelling of an oral text there was no significant difference between the groups. Oral comprehension was influenced by the increase in speed. Conclusion: Higher playback speeds impact cognitive abilities related to working memory, repetition, and oral text comprehension.