Top Down Processing 
Advantages and Disadvantages of the Activation of Top-Down Processing in Speech Comprehension
Speech comprehension is how we interpret messages that we hear. This is often presented to us in dialogue where we can see and interact with the other party, but we must also be able to understand speech in other mediums such as over the telephone, through the media, or over a tannoy announcement in a supermarket or on public transport for example. Top down processing describes how we infer meaning when information is missing. When listening to speech, there are often sounds, words or phrases that are inaudible, for example in a noisy environment. It is believed that we fill in the gaps by adding information based on what we know. (Pinker, 2000). It is generally accepted that top down processing is activated in speech comprehension (Pinker, 2000), (Brown, 2006) and (Zekveld, Heslenfeld, Festen and Schoonhoven, 2006). This paper outlines the advantages and disadvantages of the process, which lead to successful and sometimes unsuccessful comprehension of speech. Any error in the research examples would be considered disadvantages if it was a result of top down processing. This would serve to warn teachers, speech therapists and those who develop audiology equipment to be cautious of encouraging or eliciting this skill.
The importance of discussing the advantages and disadvantages of top down processing is that therapists and educators can learn how best to enhance speech comprehension. For students of language and people with hearing impairment, knowledge of how to promote speech comprehension is of particular importance
Cognitive research will support the description of the processes taking place and present evidence of success and failure in speech comprehension. Goh (2000) carried out a study on the challenges of listening comprehension for English language students proposes the promotion of top down processing in order to enhance understanding speech from a
Speech comprehension is how we interpret messages that we hear. This is often presented to us in dialogue where we can see and interact with the other party, but we must also be able to understand speech in other mediums such as over the telephone, through the media, or over a tannoy announcement in a supermarket or on public transport for example. Top down processing describes how we infer meaning when information is missing. When listening to speech, there are often sounds, words or phrases that are inaudible, for example in a noisy environment. It is believed that we fill in the gaps by adding information based on what we know. (Pinker, 2000). It is generally accepted that top down processing is activated in speech comprehension (Pinker, 2000), (Brown, 2006) and (Zekveld, Heslenfeld, Festen and Schoonhoven, 2006). This paper outlines the advantages and disadvantages of the process, which lead to successful and sometimes unsuccessful comprehension of speech. Any error in the research examples would be considered disadvantages if it was a result of top down processing. This would serve to warn teachers, speech therapists and those who develop audiology equipment to be cautious of encouraging or eliciting this skill.
The importance of discussing the advantages and disadvantages of top down processing is that therapists and educators can learn how best to enhance speech comprehension. For students of language and people with hearing impairment, knowledge of how to promote speech comprehension is of particular importance
Cognitive research will support the description of the processes taking place and present evidence of success and failure in speech comprehension. Goh (2000) carried out a study on the challenges of listening comprehension for English language students proposes the promotion of top down processing in order to enhance understanding speech from a