Speech Perception in Noise: Do Children Hear Their Peers Differently Than Adults?

Children are constantly exposed to a wide range of speech sources, not only from adults but also from their peers. Yet, the majority of speech perception research has predominantly relied on adult-produced speech as the primary stimulus for pediatric listeners. This oversight is critical, as child and adult speech differ significantly in terms of acoustics and phonetics. These differences raise an important question: How do children process speech produced by both adults and their peers, especially in the presence of background noise? Understanding this dynamic is crucial, as the ability to recognize speech in noisy environments is central to communication and learning. The present study aimed to bridge this gap by investigating how children and adults differ in their recognition of speech-in-noise, particularly when the speech targets are produced by children versus adults. By examining how children process these differences, this work provides invaluable insights into their speech processing mechanisms.

The study included 70 typically developing children aged 4 to 17 years (mean age = 9.9) and 27 adults. Speech recognition thresholds (SRTs) were measured for both child- and adult-target talkers in speech-shaped noise. The child target was produced by a 7-year-old girl, while an adult female produced the adult target.

Analyses revealed that children achieved significantly lower (better) SRTs with child-produced speech compared with adult-produced speech. Interestingly that the effect of the target talker (adult or child) did not differ significantly between listener groups. However, a significant trend emerged showing an interaction between age and target talker. The improvement in SRT with age differed between adult and child talkers, with younger listeners (<10 years) exhibiting a greater advantage for child talkers, which diminished as age increased. A weak correlation between SRTs for child and adult targets suggested that adult-based speech perception tests may not fully represent children's speech recognition abilities.

This study underscores the importance of considering child-produced speech in speech perception research, particularly in noisy environments. The developmental differences in speech-in-noise recognition between adult and child talkers suggest that speech perception abilities in children may not follow the same patterns for both talker types. These findings highlight the need for more comprehensive pediatric speech perception studies that include child-target speech stimuli, which could enhance our understanding of speech processing in children and potentially inform interventions and hearing device fittings tailored specifically to the unique needs of pediatric listeners.