The Relation Between Stimulus Context, Speech Audibility, and Perception for Normal-Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Children

Abstract

In this study, the influence of stimulus context and audibility on sentence recognition was assessed in 60 normal-hearing children, 23 hearing-impaired children, and 20 normal-hearing adults. Performance-intensity (PI) functions were obtained for 60 semantically correct and 60 semantically anomalous sentences. For each participant, an audibility index (AI) was calculated at each presentation level, and a logistic function was fitted to rau-transformed percent-correct values to estimate the SPL and AI required to achieve 70% performance. For both types of sentences, there was a systematic age-related shift in the PI functions, suggesting that young children require a higher AI to achieve performance equivalent to that of adults. Improvement in performance with the addition of semantic context was statistically significant only for the normal-hearing 5-year-olds and adults. Data from the hearing-impaired children showed age-related trends that were similar to those of the normal-hearing children, with the majority of individual data falling within the 5th and 95th percentile of normal. The implications of these findings in terms of hearing-aid fitting strategies for young children are discussed.

Classroom Sound Field Amplification Systems for Language Development During Early School Years In Contexts Of Socio-Economic Exclusion: The Neglected Role Of Classroom Contextual Dimensions

“…There has also been a plethora of studies on the specific impact of noise on listening and understanding in the classroom, two dimensions that underlie the very premise of education. Most of these studies evidenced decreased speech perception and speech understanding of young children in the presence of noise (Bluestone, 2004;Bradley & Sato, 2004;Gil-Loyzaga, 2005;Jones et al, 1989;Moore, 2002;Nelson & Soli, 2000;Stelmachowicz, Hoover, Lewis, Kortekaas, & Pittman, 2000;Zabel & Taylor, 1993). Thus, they support the claim that young children need more favourable acoustical conditions than adult listeners to achieve equivalent recognition scores.…”

Ensuring Financial Access to Hearing Aids for Infants and Young Children

“…Relatively recently developed digital hearing aids with features such as automatic feedback cancellation, multiple channels, expansion to reduce low-level noise, and wide dynamic range compression can achieve these goals, whereas analog hearing aids cannot. [8][9][10][11] If permanent hearing loss of any severity is not identified early and treated correctly, there are serious negative consequences for children, their families, and society. Without appropriate access to language, hearing technology, and early intervention, children with hearing loss almost always fall behind their peers in language, cognition, and social-emotional development.…”

“…[7][8][9][10]42 Accessories (eg, ear molds, pediatric earhooks, batteries, and cords) and related professional services (eg, assessment and evaluation, fitting and programming, and repairs) are also needed. The model assumes that infants and young children require more frequent professional services than adults because of the complexity and variation in their hearing loss.…”

The effect of amplitude modulation on intelligibility of time-varying sinusoidal speech in children and adults

“…To ensure that the vocabulary was appropriate for the age groups used in this study, we compiled 60 sentences from ones used in pre- Kenworthy, Klee, & Tharpe, 1990;Stelmachowicz, Hoover, Lewis, Kortekaas, & Pittman, 2000). Naturally produced tokens of four-word sentences (e.g., "I wrecked my bike," "Let me have it") were spoken by an adult male talker.…”