Noise, age and gender effects on speech intelligibility and sentence comprehension for 11- to 13-year-old children in real classrooms.

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of type of noise, age, and gender on children\u2019s speech intelligibility (SI) and sentence comprehension (SC). The experiment was conducted with 171 children between 11 and 13 years old in ecologically-valid conditions (collective presentation in real, reverberating classrooms). Two standardized tests were used to assess SI and SC. The two tasks were presented in three listening conditions: quiet; traffic noise; and classroom noise (non-intelligible noise with the same spectrum and temporal envelope of speech, plus typical classroom sound events). Both task performance accuracy and listening effort were considered in the analyses, the latter tracked by recording the response time (RT) using a single-task paradigm. Classroom noise was found to have the worst effect on both tasks (worsening task performance accuracy and slowing RTs), due to its spectro-temporal characteristics. A developmental effect was seen in the range of ages (11\u201313 years), which depended on the task and listening condition. Gender effects were also seen in both tasks, girls being more accurate and quicker to respond in most listening conditions. A significant interaction emerged between type of noise, age and task, indicating that classroom noise had a greater impact on RTs for SI than for SC. Overall, these results indicate that, for 11- to 13-year-old children, performance in SI and SC tasks is influenced by aspects relating to both the sound environment and the listener (age, gender). The presence of significant interactions between these factors and the type of task suggests that the acoustic conditions that guarantee optimal SI might not be equally adequate for SC. Our findings have implications for the development of standard requirements for the acoustic design of classrooms

Comparing the Speech Perception of Cochlear Implant Users with Three Different Finnish Speech Intelligibility Tests in Noise

Background: A large number of different speech-in-noise (SIN) tests are available for testing cochlear implant (CI) recipients, but few studies have compared the different tests in the same patient population to assess how well their results correlate. Methods: A clinically representative group of 80 CI users conducted the Finnish versions of the matrix sentence test, the simplified matrix sentence test, and the digit triplet test. The results were analyzed for correlations between the different tests and for differences among the participants, including age and device modality. Results: Strong and statistically significant correlations were observed between all of the tests. No floor or ceiling effects were observed with any of the tests when using the adaptive test procedure. Age or the length of device use showed no correlation to SIN perception, but bilateral CI users showed slightly better results in comparison to unilateral or bimodal users. Conclusions: Three SIN tests that differ in length and complexity of the test material provided comparable results in a diverse CI user group.Peer reviewe

Melodic contour identification and speech recognition by school-aged children

Using the Sung Speech Corpus (SSC), which encompasses a single database that contains musical pitch, timbre variations and speech information in identification tasks, the current study aimed to explore the development of normal-hearing children’s ability to use the pitch and timbre cues. Thirteen normal hearing children were recruited for the study ages ranging from 7 to 16 years old. Participants were separated into two separate groups: Younger (7-9) and Older (10-16). Musical Experience was taken into account as well. The Angel Sound ™ program was utilized for testing which was adopted from previous studies, most recently Crew, Galvin, and Fu (2015). Participants were asked to identify either pitch contour or a five word sentence while the one not being identified was manipulated in quiet. Each sentence recognition task was also tested at three different SNRs (-3, 0, 3 dB). For sentence recognition in quiet, children with musical training performed better than those without. A significant interaction between Age-Group and Musical Experience was also seen, such that Younger children showed more benefit from musical training than Older, musically trained children. Significant effect of pitch contour on sentence recognition in noise was found showing that naturally produced speech stimuli were easier to identify when competing background noise was introduced for all children than speech stimuli with an unnatural pitch contour. Significant effect of speech timbre on MCI was found which demonstrates that as the timbre complexity increases, the MCI performance decreases. The current study concluded that pitch and timbre cues interfered with each other in child listeners, depending on the listening demands (SNR, tasks, etc.). Music training can improve overall speech and music perception

Validation of the LittlEARS® Questionnaire and the Adaptive Auditory Speech Test (AAST) in normal-hearing Maltese-speaking children

Despite the widespread screening of hearing loss at birth, some children with permanent hearing loss still go undetected, and delayed onset hearing loss remains a concern. Screening post Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS) is attracting increased interest across researchers and clinicians alike. This study aimed to develop tools that evaluate auditory development and speech recognition skills of Maltese speaking children. A translated version of the LittlEARS® questionnaire was used to examine auditory development in 398 young children less than 2 years of age. Analysis aimed at generating normative data from the total scores of the participants and their age in months. A Maltese version of the Adaptive Auditory Speech Test (AAST) was used to examine the speech recognition skills of 208 children and 40 adults in Quiet, Noise and High Frequency. The aims were to determine the norms in these 3 settings, in adults and children aged 4 years and older. This study confirmed that the Maltese version of LittlEARS® is a valid and reliable tool to evaluate auditory development in children less than two years of age. Norm curves were comparable to the original German data. The Maltese version of AAST confirms an age dependent norm threshold with a significant improvement in threshold being observed as children grow older, similar to other AAST versions. This was evident across the 3 test settings. An approximate difference of 10dB was also noted between 4-year-old and 10-year-old children in AAST in Quiet. Thresholds of 10-year-olds and adults were similar in both the Quiet and High frequency versions. Implications for post UNHS using these tools are addressed

Tone perception in Mandarin-speaking school age children with otitis media with effusion

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Comparing the Speech Perception of Cochlear Implant Users with Three Different Finnish Speech Intelligibility Tests in Noise

Background: A large number of different speech-in-noise (SIN) tests are available for testing cochlear implant (CI) recipients, but few studies have compared the different tests in the same patient population to assess how well their results correlate. Methods: A clinically representative group of 80 CI users conducted the Finnish versions of the matrix sentence test, the simplified matrix sentence test, and the digit triplet test. The results were analyzed for correlations between the different tests and for differences among the participants, including age and device modality. Results: Strong and statistically significant correlations were observed between all of the tests. No floor or ceiling effects were observed with any of the tests when using the adaptive test procedure. Age or the length of device use showed no correlation to SIN perception, but bilateral CI users showed slightly better results in comparison to unilateral or bimodal users. Conclusions: Three SIN tests that differ in length and complexity of the test material provided comparable results in a diverse CI user group</p