Reduced Neural Speech Tracking in Adolescents with Listening Difficulty.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Auditory Neuroscience
• Developmental Neuroscience

Background:

• Listening in noisy environments, such as the "cocktail party effect," is challenging for individuals with listening difficulties (LiD).
• Understanding the neural underpinnings of speech-in-speech listening is crucial for developing effective interventions for adolescents with LiD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the neural mechanisms of speech-in-speech listening in adolescents with LiD.
• To compare neural speech tracking (NST) between adolescents with LiD and typically developing (TD) peers.

Main Methods:

• Magnetoencephalography (MEG) was used to assess NST in 21 adolescents with LiD and 25 TD peers.
• Participants completed a cocktail party task with target and competitor speech streams, varying in talker identity and spatial location.
• Theta-band (4-8 Hz) inter-event phase coherence (IEPC) to acoustic edges quantified NST.

Main Results:

• Adolescents with LiD exhibited significantly reduced NST of the target speech compared to TD peers.
• NST of competitor speech was similar between groups, indicating selective processing deficits.
• Theta-band IEPC correlated with reported listening difficulties, highlighting clinical relevance.

Conclusions:

• Listening difficulties in adolescents are associated with impaired processing of attended speech, not enhanced competitor processing.
• Reduced integration of auditory cues (talker identity, spatial location) contributes to listening challenges in adolescents with LiD.
• These findings suggest interventions targeting selective attention and cue integration may benefit adolescents with LiD.