Environmental noise in a residential institution for mentally retarded persons

The present study was designed to survey the noise characteristics in residence halls housing young mentally retarded children and test the effects of this noise on speech-discrimination performance of the residents. The noise survey indicated that the mean level of the noise was 75 dB SPL (WIth the level greater than 70 dB SPL during 71 percent of the sampling time). The spectrum was similar in configuration to the long-time speech spectrum. Selected residents were tested for speech discrimination in quiet and noise conditions. Mean scores on the Word Intelligibility by Perception Identification test were 73.9 percent correct in the quiet and 44 percent correct in the noise conditions. We concluded that the residents, who already had a primary language-learning handicap, were being subjected to a possible secondary impediment resulting from their living environment.