Speech Recognition Abilities in Normal-Hearing Children 4 to 12 Years of Age in Stationary and Interrupted Noise.
Wiepke J A Koopmans, S Theo Goverts, Cas Smits
PMID 29554035WHAT IT FOUND
Children aged 4 to 12 needed speech to be louder relative to noise than adults.
By 10 to 12 they matched adults in steady noise, but children still gained less benefit from noisy gaps, and most from two-ear cues.
Key findings
01Younger children needed speech to be louder relative to noise than adults, and children 10 to 12 years matched adults in steady noise.
02Adults gained more from noisy gaps and two-ear cues than children, except that 10 to 12 year olds reached adult-like benefit from two-ear cues.
03Children as young as 4 completed the digits-in-noise test, and the standard and simplified versions gave similar scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study tested normal-hearing Dutch-speaking children recruited from a local primary school or informal connections, so the scores may not apply directly to children who speak another language or have hearing loss. Different children were tested at each age, not the same children followed over time, so age differences are group differences at one point in time. The normative data were collected through headphones in quiet rooms or school offices, not in a real classroom, so classroom listening may differ. In Experiment I, the standard three-digit test was added partway through the study, so not all children completed it. The authors say the reason for age-related improvement is not fully known; auditory maturation and attention or language development may both contribute.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume a 10-year-old hears speech in a noisy classroom as well as an adult. Adult-like performance was found only in steady noise. Children still gained less benefit from interrupted noise than adults, and the study tested normal-hearing children, not children with hearing loss.