Speaking clearly for learning-disabled children: Sentence perception in noise

Abstract

This study sought to establish connections between two findings regarding speech perception in special populations. First, children with learning problems often have difficulty perceiving speech in noise. Second, naturally produced clear speech is more intelligible for adult hearing-impaired listeners. Given recent interest in the use of digital enhancement techniques in speech and language training procedures for learning-disabled children, we wanted to investigate whether naturally produced clear speech yields perception benefits for this population. We presented children with learning problems (n=46) and normal children (n=17) with sentences embedded in noise. Factors that varied were speaking style (plain versus clear) and signal-to-noise ratio (high versus low). Results indicated that: (1) children with learning problems had poorer sentence-in-noise perception than normal children; (2) both groups had poorer perception with increasing noise levels; and (3) both groups benefited from naturally produced clear speech. There were no significant two- or three-way interactions between listener group, noise level, and speaking style. In combination with acoustic analyses of the plain and clear sentences, these findings have broad implications for our understanding of the speech perception deficits in this population, and the design of appropriate training procedures. [Work supported by NIH-NIDCD Grants DC 03762 and DC 01510.]