Disentangling factors responsible for children’s pronounced susceptibility to speech-in-speech masking

Abstract

The ability to recognize masked speech follows a prolonged time course of development, particularly when the masker is also speech. Findings from prior research suggest that immature auditory segregation, selective auditory attention, and receptive language abilities contribute to these maturational effects. This study aimed to disentangle the relative contributions of these factors on speech-in-speech recognition for 5- to 8-year-old children and young adults with normal hearing. Speech-in-noise and speech-in-speech recognition were assessed using an adaptive, forced-choice procedure with a picture-pointing response. Tone detection thresholds in quiet and in the presence of a remote-frequency, narrowband noise were estimated using an adaptive, 2 down 1 up forced-choice procedure. Standardized assessments of receptive vocabulary, executive function, and working memory were completed. Preliminary data agree with results from prior studies, indicating increased susceptibility to auditory masking in the context of speech recognition and tone detection for children relative to adults. Associations between performance on speech recognition, psychoacoustic, linguistic, and cognitive tests will be presented.