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Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses
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Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses

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Issues in human auditory development

Lynne A Werner1

  • 1Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, 1417 N.E. 42nd Street, Seattle, WA 98105-6246, USA. lawerner@u.washington.edu

Journal of Communication Disorders
|April 11, 2007
PubMed

Insights

Basic auditory processing matures early, but higher-level functions like attention develop slowly. This impacts how children, especially those with hearing loss, process sounds.

Area of Science:

  • Auditory Neuroscience
  • Developmental Psychology

Background:

  • Early auditory development shows rapid maturation of basic processing, appearing adult-like by 6 months.
  • Higher-level auditory functions, including attention and sound localization, mature much later.
  • Immature higher-level processes can hinder auditory perception in infants and children.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To outline the developmental trajectory of the human auditory system.
  • To emphasize the critical role of auditory experience in development.
  • To elucidate the function of attention and other cognitive processes in early auditory perception.

Main Methods:

  • Review of developmental psychology and auditory neuroscience literature.
  • Analysis of studies on infant and child auditory processing.
  • Synthesis of research on the impact of hearing impairment on auditory development.

Main Results:

  • Basic auditory functions mature rapidly in the first year.
  • Complex auditory skills, such as sound source determination and attention, require prolonged development.
  • Children with impaired hearing face compounded challenges due to degraded auditory input and immature processing strategies.

Conclusions:

  • Auditory development is a protracted process extending beyond basic sensory encoding.
  • Experience is crucial for refining auditory skills and higher-level processing.
  • Understanding these developmental aspects is vital for supporting children with hearing impairments.
Abstract

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