Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 4, 2025
Author Spotlight: Investigating the Impact of Emotional Prosodies on Voice Recognition and Perception
Published on: August 9, 2024
Remote Microphones Support Speech Recognition in Noise and Reverberation for Children With a Language Disorder
Katherine R Gordon1, Dawna Lewis2, Stephanie Lowry1
1Center for Childhood Deafness, Language, and Learning, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, NE.
Purpose:
Children with typical hearing and various language and cognitive challenges can struggle with processing speech in background noise. Thus, children with a language disorder (LD) are at risk for difficulty with speech recognition in poorer acoustic environments.
Method:
The current study compared the effects of background speech-shaped noise (SSN) with and without reverberation on sentence recognition for children with LD (n = 9) and typical language development (TLD; n = 9). We also investigated whether the use of a remote microphone (RM) improved speech recognition for children with LD.
Results:
Children with LD demonstrated poorer sentence recognition than peers with TLD in SSN. Both groups had poorer sentence recognition with SSN + reverberation than SSN alone. Notably, using an RM improved speech recognition for children with LD in SSN and SSN + reverberation.
Conclusion:
We discuss educational implications and future research questions to identify how to optimally support speech recognition in noisy environments for children with LD.
Supplemental Material:
https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.28037984.
