Conversational topic shifting and its effect on communication breakdowns for individuals with hearing loss

This study investigated the occurrence of communication breakdowns following conversational topic changes by partners with normal hearing during communicative interactions with people with hearing loss. Eleven adults with an acquired sensorineural hearing loss were videotaped engaged in 15-minute dyadic conversation. For each conversation, the partner's speaking turns were coded into four topic manipulation behaviors: topic initiation, topic shading, topic maintenance, and topic extension. The frequency of occurrence of communication breakdowns that immediately followed each type of partner topic manipulation was tallied. Results showed that there were few communication breakdowns when partners used speaking turns that maintained or extended conversational topics. However, the number of communication breakdowns - and the number of speaking turns devoted to repairing the breakdowns - increased when partners shifted topics, either through topic shading or topic initiation. Interestingly, breakdowns were more likely to occur when topics were shifted through shading than through introduction of a new topic, The results of this study have clinical implications for conversational fluency intervention for individuals with hearing loss.