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Systematic Hearing Performance Evaluation Process for Adolescents with Cochlear Implantation at Early Ages
Published on: March 24, 2023
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Development of the binaural intelligibility level difference for speech-in-speech recognition
Lori J Leibold1, Jenna Felder2, Elizabeth Benson3
1Center for Hearing Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, Nebraska 68131, USA.
JASA Express Letters
|October 21, 2025
Summary
Binaural intelligibility level difference (BILD) for speech recognition in school-age children matures by age ten. This finding suggests that children
Area of Science:
- Auditory perception and speech processing in children.
- Developmental audiology and psychoacoustics.
- Human auditory system maturation.
Background:
- The binaural intelligibility level difference (BILD) is crucial for understanding speech in noisy environments.
- Maturation of auditory processing skills in children impacts speech recognition abilities.
- Previous research established BILD for speech-in-noise, but less is known for speech-in-speech.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the developmental trajectory of the BILD in school-age children.
- To characterize BILD maturation in the context of speech-in-speech recognition.
- To compare BILD development in children with adult performance.
Main Methods:
- An adaptive, open-set sentence recognition task was employed.
- Participants included children aged 5-17 years and adults.
- Two binaural conditions were used: in-phase and out-of-phase presentation of target speech relative to masker speech.
Main Results:
- BILD estimates were calculated as the difference between the two binaural conditions.
- Auditory performance, specifically BILD, demonstrated maturation by approximately ten years of age.
- The developmental pattern of BILD in speech-in-speech recognition aligns with findings for speech-in-noise.
Conclusions:
- The binaural intelligibility level difference (BILD) for speech-in-speech recognition is mature by ten years of age in children.
- This developmental milestone indicates that key binaural processing abilities for complex listening situations are established by late childhood.
- Findings support the notion that fundamental binaural hearing mechanisms for challenging auditory scenes are largely in place by age ten.
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