Online Assessment of Speech Perception and Auditory Spectrotemporal Processing in Spanish-English Bilinguals

There is limited access to audiology services for the growing population of Spanish-English bilinguals in the United States. Online auditory testing can potentially provide a cost-effective alternative to in-person visits. However, even for bilinguals with high English proficiency, age of English acquisition may affect speech perception accuracy. This study used a comprehensive test battery to assess speech perception and spectrotemporal processing abilities in Spanish-English bilinguals and to evaluate susceptibility of different tests to effects of native language.

The online battery comprised three tests of speech in quiet (vowel and consonant identification and words in sentences), four tests of speech perception in noise (two for intelligibility and two for comprehension), and three tests of spectrotemporal processing (two tests of stochastically modulated pattern discrimination and one test of spectral resolution). Participants were 28 adult Spanish-English bilinguals whose English acquisition began either early (≤ 6 years old) or late (≥ 7 years old) and 18 English monolingual speakers.

Significant differences were found in six of the 10 tests. The differences were most pronounced for vowel perception in quiet, speech-in-noise test, and two tests of speech comprehension in noise. Late bilinguals consistently scored lower than native English speakers or early bilinguals. In contrast, no differences between groups were observed for digits-in-noise or three tests of spectrotemporal processing abilities.

The findings suggest initial feasibility of online assessment in this population and can inform selection of tests for auditory assessment of Spanish-English bilinguals.