Speech-Sound Discrimination in School-Age Children

1999 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 1042-1060 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Kraus ◽  
Dawn Burton Koch ◽  
Therese J. McGee ◽  
Trent G. Nicol ◽  
Jenna Cunningham

This study measured behavioral speech-sound discrimination and a neurophysiologic correlate of discrimination in normal school-age children (ages 6 to 15) to determine if developmental effects exist. Just noticeable differences (JNDs) and mismatch responses (MMNs) were assessed for synthetic syllables that differed in third-formant onset frequency (/da-ga/) and formant transition duration (/ba-wa/). These stimuli were selected because children with learning problems often find it difficult to discriminate rapid spectrotemporal changes like /da-ga/, whereas the ability to distinguish /ba-wa/ is relatively unimpaired. Results indicate that JNDs for /da-ga/ show no developmental effects and that JNDs for /ba-wa/ decrease slightly with age (although likely for task-related reasons). MMNs elicited by two /da-ga/ stimulus pairs (onset frequency differences=20 Hz, 280 Hz) and three /ba-wa/ stimulus pairs (transition duration differences=3, 5, 15 ms) showed no systematic or significant differences for onset latency, duration, or area as a function of age. Normative JND and MMN data are provided. These norms provide a metric against which children with suspected central auditory processing difficulties or auditory-based language disorders can be compared.

1999 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald L. Schow ◽  
Gail Chermak

Central auditory processing disorders among school-age children have been challenging to identify and treat. Many issues remain that need to be resolved. Here, we compare and contrast findings on 331 school-age children who were given two of the more common central auditory processing disorder tests (Staggered Spondaic Word [SSW] Test and the SCAN Screening Test for Auditory Processing Disorders). These results replicate and reinforce many of the psychometric findings reported earlier. The use of factor analysis with these test results was explored. Significantly, two factors emerged, including an auditory binaural separation from competition factor and a monaural low redundancy degradation factor. These findings help us define the nature of processes probed by the SCAN screening test and the SSW test. Furthermore, these findings clarify the use of SSW and SCAN because they showed both SSW Left Competing and Right Competing loading within the same factor, whereas the three subtests on SCAN sorted into two rather than three factors.


2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-546
Author(s):  
Miya St John ◽  
Georgie Columbus ◽  
Amanda Brignell ◽  
Peter Carew ◽  
Jemma Skeat ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jarmo Hämäläinen ◽  
Nicole Landi ◽  
Otto Loberg ◽  
Kaisa Lohvansuu ◽  
Kenneth Pugh ◽  
...  

Development of reading skills has been shown to be tightly linked to phonological processing skills and to some extent to speech perception abilities. Although speech perception is also known to play a role in reading development, it is not clear which processes underlie this connection. Using event-related potentials (ERPs) we investigated the speech processing mechanisms for common and uncommon sound contrasts (/ba/-/da/-/ga/ and /ata/-/at: a/) with respect to the native language of school-age children in Finland and the US. In addition, a comprehensive behavioral test battery of reading and phonological processing was administered. ERPs revealed that the children could discriminate between the speech sound contrasts (place of articulation and phoneme length) regardless of their native language. No differences emerged between the Finnish and US children in their change detection responses. The brain responses to the phoneme length contrast, however, correlated robustly with reading scores in the US children, with larger responses being linked to poorer reading skills. Finnish children also showed correlations between the reading and phonological measures and ERP responses, but the pattern of results was not as clear as for the US children. The results indicate that speech perception is linked to reading skills and this link is more robust for uncommon speech sound contrasts.


2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 913-925 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susannah V. Levi ◽  
Richard G. Schwartz

Purpose In this study, the authors aimed to investigate how differences in language ability relate to differences in processing talker information in the native language and an unfamiliar language by comparing performance for different ages and for groups with impaired language. Method Three groups of native English listeners with typical language development (TLD; ages 7–9, ages 10–12, adults) and 2 groups with specific language impairment (SLI; ages 7–9, ages 10–12) participated in the study. Listeners heard pairs of words in both English and German (unfamiliar language) and were asked to determine whether the words were produced by the same or different talkers. Results In English, talker discrimination improved with age. In German, performance improved with age for the school-age children but was worse for adult listeners. No differences were found between TLD and SLI children. Conclusion These results show that as listeners' language skills develop, there is a trade-off between more general perceptual abilities useful for processing talker information in any language and those that are relevant to their everyday language experiences and, thus, tied to the phonology. The lack of differences between the children with and without language impairments suggests that general auditory processing may be intact in at least some children with SLI.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sridhar Krishnamurti

P300 Auditory Event-Related Potentials (P3AERPs) were recorded in nine school-age children with auditory processing disorders and nine age- and gender-matched controls in response to tone burst stimuli presented at varying rates (1/second or 3/second) under varying levels of competing noise (0 dB, 40 dB, or 60 dB SPL). Neural network modeling results indicated that speed of information processing and task-related demands significantly influenced P3AERP latency in children with auditory processing disorders. Competing noise and rapid stimulus rates influenced P3AERP amplitude in both groups.


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