Speech Perception Research Articles (Page 1)

ABSTRACT Understanding how the classroom environment affects autistic children’s listening, learning, and wellbeing is vital to ensure that the space is conducive to these outcomes. This paper used the Listen to Learn for Life Assessment Framework to conduct a scoping review following the PRISMA-ScR protocol on what is known and not known about how the classroom environment affects listening, learning, and wellbeing of school-aged autistic children. Thirty-five of 1,301 papers returned in the searches from five databases met the criteria to be included in the review. The results revealed that autistic children have poorer speech perception in noise than their neurotypical peers, but assistive listening devices such as IQbuds, FM systems, and sound field amplification as well as visual aids benefit these children. Noise should still be controlled, however, to help minimise repetitive behaviours, via carefully selecting the school location, choosing quieter air-conditioning systems, and installing sound absorption. Separate quiet spaces and noise-cancelling headphones for independent work are beneficial. Classrooms should have clearly defined spaces for different activities and limit visual clutter as these can be triggers for inattention and stress. Areas for future research based on components of the Listen to Learn for Life Assessment Framework not investigated are discussed.

Abstract Speech development requires precise timing and sensorimotor integration, supported by neural oscillations that synchronize activity across auditory, motor, and cognitive circuits. Among speech-relevant frequency bands, beta oscillations (13-30 Hz) are critical for timing and coordination, supporting sensorimotor processing and speech preparation. Beta desynchronization (power decreases) is typically observed prior to movement, reflecting motor planning, and beta activity also supports cognitive functions such as attention and anticipation. Although age-related changes in beta power have been documented, its developmental trajectory during speech processing remains underexplored. Here, we compared beta power dynamics in 28 adults (mean age = 27.8 years) and 50 children (mean age = 10.3 years) during speech perception and production tasks using EEG. On each trial, participants received a visual cue indicating the condition (“Say,” “Hear,” or “See”), followed by rhythmic tones and a warning cue presented as a picture with its name (e.g., cat) in Say and Hear, but only as a picture in See. A Go cue then prompted participants to speak, listen, or maintain fixation. Beta power was analyzed in three time windows: post-warning cue (P1), pre-Go cue (P2), and post-Go cue (P3). Adults exhibited significant beta power decreases across all time windows, particularly in Say, indicating mature sensorimotor and cognitive integration. In contrast, children showed no significant condition effects and minimal beta reduction in P3. Beta modulation was negatively correlated with age in children, suggesting ongoing maturation of beta oscillations. These findings highlight key developmental differences in beta oscillations relevant to speech processing.

Connected speech, characterized by phonological variations such as contractions and elisions, poses unique challenges for second language learners, yet research on its perception in young EFL populations remains limited. This study examined English connected speech perception in 72 Chinese EFL children with varying phonological awareness (PA) levels through systematic manipulation of familiarity and salience of acoustic - phonetic and semantic cues. Results demonstrated concurrent activation of both cues, challenging the abstractionist model. Additionally, high PA levels correlated with superior perceptual accuracy and greater cue-weighting flexibility, albeit no significant difference was observed between high and low PA groups under conditions of low cue familiarity and salience. These findings suggest that PA is necessary but insufficient for connected speech perception. Instead, strategic cue weighting plays a vital role, highlighting that EFL instruction should develop young learners' ability to flexibly utilize multiplecues.

Background: Cochlear implants (CIs) are transformative neuroprosthetics that restore speech perception for individuals with severe-to-profound hearing loss. However, temporal envelope cues are well-represented within the signal processing, while spectral envelope cues are poorly accessed by CI users, resulting in substantial deficits compared to normal-hearing individuals. This profoundly impairs the perception of complex auditory stimuli like music and vocal prosody, significantly impacting users’ quality of life, social engagement, and artistic expression. Methods: This narrative review synthesizes research on CI signal-processing limitations, perceptual and production challenges in music and singing, the role of the auditory–motor feedback loop, and strategies for improvement, including rehabilitation, technology, and the influence of neuroplasticity and sensitive developmental periods. Results: The degraded signal causes marked deficits in pitch, timbre, and vocal emotion perception. Critically, this impoverished input functionally breaks the high-fidelity auditory–motor feedback loop essential for vocal control, transforming it from a precise fine-tuner into a gross error detector sensitive only to massive pitch shifts (~6 semitones). This neurophysiological breakdown directly causes pervasive pitch inaccuracies and melodic distortion in singing. Despite these challenges, improvements are possible through advanced sound-processing strategies, targeted auditory–motor training that leverages neuroplasticity, and capitalizing on sensitive periods for auditory development. Conclusions: The standard CI signal creates a fundamental neurophysiological barrier to singing. Overcoming this requires a paradigm shift toward holistic, patient-centered care that moves beyond speech-centric goals. Integrating personalized, music-based rehabilitation with advanced CI programming is essential for improving vocal production, fostering musical engagement, and ultimately enhancing the overall quality of life for CI users.

Bilateral cochlear implantation (CI) is not routinely recommended in patients of advanced age due to concerns regarding cost-effectiveness and the medical risks of multiple operations in this population. This study seeks to evaluate outcomes of bilateral CI in post-lingually deafened adults over 65 years old. Retrospective cohort study. Tertiary referral center. Thirty-five post-lingually deafened adults over 65 years at the time of second implantation (CI2) and 11 post-lingually deafened adults over 65 years at the time of simultaneous implantation. Bilateral cochlear implantation. Bilateral CNC word scores at 1 year postoperatively. Bilateral CNC scores were significantly improved compared with preoperative scores 1 year postoperatively in both sequentially implanted patients (d=9.2%, P<0.001) and simultaneously implanted patients (d=44%, P=0.028). No significant correlations were observed between changes in bilateral CNC word scores at 1 year and age at the time of CI1 (r=0.095, P=0.665), age at the time of CI2 (r=0.034, P=0.879), or length of time between implantations (r=0.164, P=0.453) in sequentially implanted patients, nor was age at implantation correlated with changes in bilateral CNC scores at 1 year in simultaneously implanted patients (r=0.548, P=0.452). Finally, bilateral CNC scores of sequentially and simultaneously implanted patients were not found to be different at 1 year (d=4.5%, P=0.8905). Patients older than 65 years who underwent both sequential and simultaneous bilateral cochlear implantation showed similar and significant improvements in speech perception scores compared with preoperative scores. These outcomes were not correlated with age at the time of implantation or time between implantations in the case of sequentially implanted patients. This suggests that significant benefit can be seen even with advanced age at the time of implantation and longer time between implantations.

Abstract In this paper, we discuss a set of 60 listening quizzes, created to support adult learners of Hul’q’umi’num’ (Coast Salish) in fine-tuning their listening and speaking skills. Hul’q’umi’num’ has a rich consonant inventory, including many sounds not found in learners’ L1 (English). The goal of the quizzes was twofold: provide learners with opportunities to practice hearing these sounds and, at the same time, inform us about the features of Hul’q’umi’num’ L2 speech perception. Findings showed which sounds were particularly easy or challenging, laying the foundation for creating more targeted resources to better aid sound acquisition among Hul’q’umi’num’ learners. Evidence of improvement in perceptual ability after taking the quizzes was also found. This work contributes to diversifying scientific approaches to second language acquisition by showing how speech perception research and pedagogy can be combined in an Indigenous language revitalization context.

ABSTRACTA critical aspect of spoken language development is learning to categorize the sounds of the child's language(s). This process was thought to develop early during infancy to set the stage for the later development of higher‐level aspects of language (e.g., vocabulary, syntax). However, many recent studies have shown that speech categorization continues to develop through adolescence. This work, which uses more sophisticated forced‐choice tasks and stimuli that span speech continua (e.g., /b/ to /p/ in small steps) suggests that children show increasingly sharp category boundaries over development. However, this contrasts with the consensus view in adult speech perception that speech categories are graded and this may help listeners be more flexible. Here, our longitudinal study revisited these results using a new Visual Analogue Scaling (VAS) task, which employs a continuous rating scale to potentially unpack the underlying cause of a shallower or more gradient boundary. We tested 225 school‐aged children (in grades 1–3) over 4 years (through grades 4–6). A Bayesian Hierarchical psychometric model was fit to extract the Slope of the categorization function and Response Consistency (the trial‐by‐trial variance). Results show that as children age, they show shallower (more gradient) slopes. It also highlighted a new variable, suggesting that older children exhibit greater trial‐by‐trial categorization consistency. These findings suggest that sound categorization continues to develop through early school age. These findings also suggest that children become increasingly sensitive to fine‐grained gradient detail in the signal. The dramatic changes in consistency represent a challenge to current theoretical models that focus primarily on underlying category representation.SummarySpeech categorization continues to develop through the school years, refining children's ability to categorize speech sounds more precisely and flexibly.A longitudinal study tested 225 school‐aged children using a Visual Analogue Scaling (VAS) task and Bayesian Hierarchical psychometric modeling.With age, children showed shallower (more gradient) categorization slopes and greater trial‐by‐trial response consistency.Findings challenge theoretical models, revealing continued development of speech categorization and increasing sensitivity to fine‐grained gradient detail in the signal.

Abstract The article presents the Spatial AidasData Infrastructure for the Lithuanian Language (SDI4LTL), developed by Lithuanian geolinguists on the basis of the Esri ArcGIS platform, which is used for the optimisation of the processes of linguistic spatial data collection, analysis, and sharing. SDI4LTL will ensure systematic monitoring of linguistic and sociolinguistic processes in Lithuania, which are expected to change intensively due to various socioeconomic, demographic, and geopolitical factors. To reveal the potential of SDI4LTL, Geographical Information System (GIS)-based tools and methods are used to analyse the data of perceptual dialectology: 4,022 gymnasium students' responses to an online questionnaire on the use of the dialect and their perception of the dialect user (i.e., more than 12,000 associations of a dialect speaker) were analysed. The geospatial analysis identified the areas of highest and lowest dialecticity in Lithuania, the degree of prestige of the local language variant used by the younger generation, the values of the dialect-speaking associations, and the correlation of the results.

THE LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE OF ROMANIA THROUGH THE PRISM OF INTER- COMPREHENSIONIntercomprehension among related languages is a spontaneous communicative phenomenon that occurs prominently within the Romance language family, whose morphosyntactic and lexical proximity fosters mutual understanding among speakers. Although it has been extensively studied in Romance linguistics, dialectology, and language didactics, intercomprehension remains underexplored from the perspective of the linguistic landscape, understood as the visibility and spatial distribution of languages in public space. This article offers a theoretical and historiographical reflection on how intercomprehension can contribute to a cartographic interpretation of Romania as a multilingual space. Drawing on historical examples and linguistic maps, it analyses contact zones as particularly conducive to intercomprehension, as well as the ideologies that shape language perception and use. Grounded in the findings of our doctoral research, the study promotes an integrated framework that combines intercomprehension, linguistic landscapes, and sociolinguistic history.

Background and Clinical Significance: developmental language disorder (DLD) and specific learning disorder (SLD) may coexist, resulting in significantly broader impairments to oral and written language skills. Understanding the neurobiological basis of these deficits is crucial, and electrophysiological assessment of the auditory system offers an objective approach not influenced by behavioral factors. The present study describes the audiological electrophysiology of an adolescent diagnosed with both DLD and SLD. Case Presentation: R.B., a 15-year-old adolescent with a history of SLD and DLD, presented with persistent deficits in oral language (syntax) and written (decoding) skills after 7 months of intensive therapy. Basic audiological tests confirmed hearing within normal limits. An electrophysiological battery, including the click-brainstem auditory evoked potential (c-ABR), medium latency auditory evoked potential (MLAEP), long-latency auditory evoked potential (P300), and frequency following response (FFR), was performed to investigate information processing in the auditory trajectory. The c-ABR confirmed the integrity of the auditory pathway up to the brainstem. MLAEP revealed a differential ear effect, with significant asymmetry in the Na-Pa interamplitude, pointing to a dysfunction in subcortical processing. The P300 showed a prolonged latency in the left ear (437 ms), and there was no response in the right. The FFRs under ideal and impaired listening conditions demonstrated impaired perception of speech and revealed that the neurophysiological responses did not correspond to the eliciting stimulus. Conclusions: The present case study showed that electrophysiological testing of the auditory system provided objective and quantitative evidence for a neurobiological basis of the language deficits of an adolescent with DLD and SLD. The work demonstrated that when comorbidities are present, a multidisciplinary investigation of both the linguistic and auditory systems can be helpful.

Background and Aims Various aspects and characteristics of hearing aid performance can be enhanced using music. Binaural hearing also plays a crucial role in speech perception in the presence of noise. This study used music, tests, and a questionnaire related to speech perception in noise to investigate the effect of listening to music on speech perception in the presence of noise in bilateral and unilateral hearing aid users. Methods This study included 40 bilateral and unilateral hearing aid users aged 25-55 years (23 women, 17 men). The quick speech-in-noise (Q-SIN) test and speech, spatial, and qualities of hearing scale questionnaire (SSQ) were used to investigate the effects of music on speech perception in the presence of noise. Results The results of the Q-SIN test in both groups showed that music reduced signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) 50 and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) loss, which was more pronounced in the bilateral hearing aid users (P&lt;0.05). The results of the SSQ also showed that the questionnaire score increased after the three-month music therapy. This increase in score was greater in bilateral hearing aid users (P&lt;0.05). Conclusion Regular listening to music on a program basis improves speech perception in noise. The results of the present study showed that bilateral hearing aids had a greater effect on improving speech perception in noise than unilateral hearing aids.

Functional characteristics of speech perception decline in healthy aging based on resting-state EEG-fNIRS.

The relationship between intraoperative and postoperative Neural Response Thresholds (NRT) and postoperative auditory perception and speech intelligibility in cochlear implanted patients.

Noise influence on context formation and lexical retrieval in speech comprehension

Using spatial sound reproduction for studying speech perception of listeners with different language immersion experiences

The early auditory development of finnish children with cochlear implants evaluated with the LittlEARS® auditory questionnaire.

Rating scales as predictors of speech perception in paediatric cochlear implant users.

Slim perimodiolar electrodes (PSE) are designed for close modiolar proximity, but deviations from ideal placement may affect speech perception. This study investigates the prevalence, radiologic characteristics, and audiologic outcomes of abnormally positioned PSE arrays, and proposes intraoperative management strategies. We retrospectively reviewed 239 adults implanted with Cochlear® PSE arrays (2015-2023). Postoperative CT scan identified arrays positioned laterally to mid-scala without tip fold-over. Objective metrics such as angular insertion depth (AID), intracochlear position index (ICPI), wrapping factor (WF), and maximum insertion angle (MAI) were compared to a control group with normal positioning (n=52). Speech perception outcomes at 3 and 12 months were assessed using monosyllabic word tests and compared to a reference cohort (n=1414). Abnormal positioning occurred in 3% (n=7). All arrays remained within scala tympani but had shallower insertions (AID 296° vs. 392°), greater lateralization (ICPI 0.52 vs. 0.33), and higher WF (0.62 vs. 0.36). Compared to controls, speech scores were lower at 3 months (33% vs. 65%) and 12 months (45% vs. 74%). Intraoperative X-rays did not detect these deviations. Abnormal PSE placement is uncommon but associated with poorer speech outcomes. Surgeons should assess electrode shape intraoperatively and consider reinsertion if the classic curl is absent. Postoperative CT remains critical for quality assurance. Tailored intraoperative strategies are needed to prevent lateralization and optimize outcomes.

IntroductionFrequency-to-place mismatch in cochlear implants (CIs) may influence auditory and speech outcomes, yet its impact on pediatric patients remains underexplored. This study aims to assess the impact of frequency-to-place mismatch on hearing and speech outcomes.Materials and methodsIn this retrospective study, the angular insertion depth and center frequency of each electrode contact were derived. The difference between the tonotopic and default frequency was used to estimate the mismatch. The impact of this mismatch on auditory and speech outcomes was assessed in pediatric CI users.ResultsThis study included 89 implanted ears of young children. The analysis revealed a significant difference between default and postoperative electrode frequencies, with greater mismatches observed in shorter electrode arrays. A weak but significant correlation was observed between mismatch and sound field-aided thresholds (SF-AT), while no clear trends were found in other outcome measures. Patients with lower mismatches tended to perform better, while those with mismatches exceeding 7 semitones showed slightly lower—though non-significant—speech performance. However, a significant difference was observed in SIR, favoring the lower mismatch group.ConclusionChildren with <7 semitones of fequency-to-place mismatch showed better, though non-significant, outcomes across multiple measures—including SDS, CAP, and SF-AT—and a significant difference in SIR. Despite no significant linear correlations overall, these findings suggest that specific mismatch levels may still influence outcomes after three years of CI use. Future studies should investigate whether tonotopic-based mapping improves speech perception and overall auditory performance in young CI users.

Breaking down the ear-brain dichotomy: the effects of age-related hearing loss on the cortical language system.