Speech-in-speech recognition in preschoolers.

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Developmental Psychology
• Speech-Language Pathology

Background:

• Speech-in-speech masking presents challenges for auditory perception.
• Understanding factors influencing speech recognition in children is crucial for early intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

• Characterize word recognition in preschoolers within a speech masker using closed-set, forced-choice procedures.
• Investigate stimulus and listener factors affecting speech recognition performance in young children.

Main Methods:

• Evaluated speech recognition thresholds (SRTs) in a two-talker masker using a picture-pointing response.
• Utilized two sets of disyllabic target words: ChEcklist of General Speech sounds (ChEgSS) and simple words.
• Included familiarization to ensure accurate word identification before testing.

Main Results:

• Preschoolers exhibited significantly higher SRTs than adults for both simple and ChEgSS words.
• SRTs were lower for simple words than ChEgSS words, and for early-acquired than later-acquired ChEgSS words.
• Child age and receptive vocabulary size influenced speech recognition performance in preschoolers.

Conclusions:

• Preschoolers are more susceptible to speech-in-speech masking compared to adults.
• Receptive vocabulary size is a significant factor in preschoolers' recognition of complex words (ChEgSS) in noisy conditions.
• Vocabulary size remains important for speech recognition, even with simplified testing methods.