Does visual speech provide release from perceptual masking in children?

Destinee M Halverson,Kaylah Lalonde

doi:10.1121/10.0001867

Abstract

Adults benefit more from visual speech in speech maskers than in noise maskers because visual speech helps perceptually isolate target talkers from competing talkers. To investigate whether children use visual speech to perceptually isolate target talkers, this study compared children's speech recognition thresholds in auditory and audiovisual condition across two maskers: two-talker speech and noise. Children demonstrated similar audiovisual benefit in both maskers. Individual differences in speechreading accuracy predicted audiovisual benefit in each masker to a similar degree. Results suggest that although visual speech improves children's masked speech recognition thresholds, children may use visual speech in different ways than adults.

Highlights

Listening in noise is challenging for adults and children, but children are especially susceptible to masking [see Leibold and Buss (2019) for review]
Children must rely on incompletely developed central auditory and cognitive processes and language skills to perceptually group acoustic cues from each talker into separate auditory objects and selectively attend to the talker of interest (Brungart, 2001; Leibold and Buss, 2019)
The 7- to 9-year-old children in this study demonstrated AV benefit to masked speech recognition thresholds

Summary

Introduction

Listening in noise is challenging for adults and children, but children are especially susceptible to masking [see Leibold and Buss (2019) for review]. Developmental differences in susceptibility to masking are pronounced when background noise consists of a small number of competing talkers In such conditions, children must rely on incompletely developed central auditory and cognitive processes and language skills to perceptually group acoustic cues from each talker into separate auditory objects and selectively attend to the talker of interest (Brungart, 2001; Leibold and Buss, 2019). Certain stimulus differences between target and masker speech promote acoustic grouping in both children and adults, resulting in improved speech-in-speech recognition These include differences in language, the typical vocal characteristics of male and female talkers (i.e., fundamental and resonant frequencies), and spatial location (Leibold and Buss, 2019; Litovsky, 2005). The visual signal reduces target/masker uncertainty in speech maskers by providing cues as to which acoustic intensity fluctuations are part of the target signal and which are part of the masker (Zion Golumbic et al, 2013)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion