scholarly journals Speech Perception in Noise Predicts Oral Narrative Comprehension in Children With Developmental Language Disorder

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beula M. Magimairaj ◽  
Naveen K. Nagaraj ◽  
Craig A. Champlin ◽  
Linda K. Thibodeau ◽  
Diane F. Loeb ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Narrative Comprehension ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
Speech Perception In Noise ◽  
Tone Perception ◽  
Processing Abilities ◽  
Narrative Language

We examined the relative contribution of auditory processing abilities (tone perception and speech perception in noise) after controlling for short-term memory capacity and vocabulary, to narrative language comprehension in children with developmental language disorder. Two hundred and sixteen children with developmental language disorder, ages 6 to 9 years (Mean = 7; 6), were administered multiple measures. The dependent variable was children's score on the narrative comprehension scale of the Test of Narrative Language. Predictors were auditory processing abilities, phonological short-term memory capacity, and language (vocabulary) factors, with age, speech perception in quiet, and non-verbal IQ as covariates. Results showed that narrative comprehension was positively correlated with the majority of the predictors. Regression analysis suggested that speech perception in noise contributed uniquely to narrative comprehension in children with developmental language disorder, over and above all other predictors; however, tone perception tasks failed to explain unique variance. The relative importance of speech perception in noise over tone-perception measures for language comprehension reinforces the need for the assessment and management of listening in noise deficits and makes a compelling case for the functional implications of complex listening situations for children with developmental language disorder.

Relationship Between Peripheral and Central Auditory Abilities and Iron Deficiency Anemia in Adolescent Girls

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Chandni Jain ◽  
Vipin Ghosh Pushpoth Gangadharan ◽  
Chetak Kadabasal Basavaraja ◽  
Aishwarya Lakshmi
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Iron Deficiency ◽  
Iron Deficiency Anemia ◽  
Adolescent Girls ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Deficiency Anemia ◽  
Central Auditory Processing ◽  
Speech Perception In Noise ◽  
Processing Abilities

Purpose This study evaluated the peripheral hearing and central auditory processing abilities in Indian adolescent girls with iron deficiency anemia (IDA). Method The participants consisted of 75 adolescent girls with IDA, 50 adolescent girls without IDA, and 50 adolescent boys without IDA. Participants underwent a test battery to evaluate auditory processing and peripheral hearing assessment. In this study, central auditory processing abilities were assessed using Speech Perception in Noise test in Kannada (SPIN-K) and quick speech perception in noise tests in Kannada, dichotic consonant–vowel test, gap detection threshold (GDT), and auditory digit sequencing and auditory digit span tests. Results Results showed that the hearing thresholds at extremely low and high frequencies (250 and 8000 Hz), although within clinically normal limits, were poorer in girls with IDA than in the control groups. Also, girls with IDA performed poorly in SPIN-K of the right ear, GDT, and auditory backward digit span tests. Conclusion These subtle auditory deficiencies may be attributed to the compromised blood supply to the central auditory nervous system, as observed in the current study.

Children's Speech Perception in Noise: Evidence for Dissociation From Language and Working Memory

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 1294-1305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beula M. Magimairaj ◽  
Naveen K. Nagaraj ◽  
Natalie J. Benafield
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Normal Range ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Speech Perception In Noise ◽  
Attention Memory

Purpose We examined the association between speech perception in noise (SPIN), language abilities, and working memory (WM) capacity in school-age children. Existing studies supporting the Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) model suggest that WM capacity plays a significant role in adverse listening situations. Method Eighty-three children between the ages of 7 to 11 years participated. The sample represented a continuum of individual differences in attention, memory, and language abilities. All children had normal-range hearing and normal-range nonverbal IQ. Children completed the Bamford–Kowal–Bench Speech-in-Noise Test (BKB-SIN; Etymotic Research, 2005), a selective auditory attention task, and multiple measures of language and WM. Results Partial correlations (controlling for age) showed significant positive associations among attention, memory, and language measures. However, BKB-SIN did not correlate significantly with any of the other measures. Principal component analysis revealed a distinct WM factor and a distinct language factor. BKB-SIN loaded robustly as a distinct 3rd factor with minimal secondary loading from sentence recall and short-term memory. Nonverbal IQ loaded as a 4th factor. Conclusions Results did not support an association between SPIN and WM capacity in children. However, in this study, a single SPIN measure was used. Future studies using multiple SPIN measures are warranted. Evidence from the current study supports the use of BKB-SIN as clinical measure of speech perception ability because it was not influenced by variation in children's language and memory abilities. More large-scale studies in school-age children are needed to replicate the proposed role played by WM in adverse listening situations.

Discriminability and Perceptual Weighting of Some Acoustic Cues to Speech Perception by 3-Year-Olds

1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 278-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Nittrouer
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Acoustic Parameters ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Developmental Shift ◽  
Processing Abilities ◽  
Children's Speech ◽  
Perceptual Weighting

Studies of children’s speech perception have shown that young children process speech signals differently than adults. Specifically, the relative contributions made by various acoustic parameters to some linguistic decisions seem to differ for children and adults. Such findings have led to the hypothesis that there is a developmental shift in the perceptual weighting of acoustic parameters that results from experience with a native language (i.e., the Developmental Weighting Shift). This developmental shift eventually leads the child to adopt the optimal perceptual weighting strategy for the native language being learned (i.e., one that allows the listener to make accurate decisions about the phonemic structure of his or her native language). Although this proposal has intuitive appeal, there is at least one serious challenge that can be leveled against it: Perhaps age-related differences inspeech perception can more appropriately be explained by age-related differences in basic auditory-processing abilities. That is, perhaps children are not as sensitive as adults to subtle differences in acoustic structure and so make linguistic decisions based on the acoustic information that is most perceptually salient. The present study tested this hypothesis for the acoustic cues relevant to fricative identity in fricative-vowel syllables. Results indicated that 3-year-olds were not as sensitive to changes in these acoustic cues as adults are, but that these age-related differences in auditory sensitivity could not entirely account for age-related differences in perceptual weighting strategies.

scholarly journals Who is Right? A Word-Identification-in-Noise Test for Young Children Using Minimal Pair Distracters

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Samuel Evans ◽  
Stuart Rosen
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Normative Data ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Word Identification ◽  
Minimal Pair ◽  
Auditory Processing Disorder ◽  
Speech In Noise ◽  
Children And Young Adults

Purpose: Many children have difficulties understanding speech. At present, there are few assessments that test for subtle impairments in speech perception with normative data from U.K. children. We present a new test that evaluates children's ability to identify target words in background noise by choosing between minimal pair alternatives that differ by a single articulatory phonetic feature. This task (a) is tailored to testing young children, but also readily applicable to adults; (b) has minimal memory demands; (c) adapts to the child's ability; and (d) does not require reading or verbal output. Method: We tested 155 children and young adults aged from 5 to 25 years on this new test of single word perception. Results: Speech-in-noise abilities in this particular task develop rapidly through childhood until they reach maturity at around 9 years of age. Conclusions: We make this test freely available and provide associated normative data. We hope that it will be useful to researchers and clinicians in the assessment of speech perception abilities in children who are hard of hearing or have developmental language disorder, dyslexia, or auditory processing disorder. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.17155934

scholarly journals Short-Term Memory for Serial Order Moderates Aspects of Language Acquisition in Children With Developmental Language Disorder: Findings From the HelSLI Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pekka Lahti-Nuuttila ◽  
Elisabet Service ◽  
Sini Smolander ◽  
Sari Kunnari ◽  
Eva Arkkila ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Serial Order ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
General Mechanism ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Term Memory

Previous studies of verbal short-term memory (STM) indicate that STM for serial order may be linked to language development and developmental language disorder (DLD). To clarify whether a domain-general mechanism is impaired in DLD, we studied the relations between age, non-verbal serial STM, and language competence (expressive language, receptive language, and language reasoning). We hypothesized that non-verbal serial STM differences between groups of children with DLD and typically developing (TD) children are linked to their language acquisition differences. Fifty-one children with DLD and sixty-six TD children participated as part of the HelSLI project in this cross-sectional study. The children were 4–6-year-old monolingual native Finnish speakers. They completed several tests of language and cognitive functioning, as well as new game-like tests of visual and auditory non-verbal serial STM. We used regression analyses to examine how serial STM moderates the effect of age on language. A non-verbal composite measure of serial visual and auditory STM moderated cross-sectional development of receptive language in the children with DLD. This moderation was not observed in the TD children. However, we found more rapid cross-sectional development of non-verbal serial STM in the TD children than in the children with DLD. The results suggest that children with DLD may be more likely to have compromised general serial STM processing and that superior non-verbal serial STM may be associated with better language acquisition in children with DLD.

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