Speech recognition in noise task among children and young-adults: a pupillometry study

Frontiers in Psychology

Psychology

Leah Fostick¹  Avital Trau-Margalit²  Riki Taitelbaum-Swead³  Tami Harel-Arbeli⁴  Rachel Nissanholtz-Gannot⁵ 

[1] Department of Communication Disorders, Auditory Perception Lab in the Name of Laurent Levy, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel;Department of Communication Disorders, Speech Perception and Listening Effort Lab in the Name of Prof. Mordechai Himelfarb, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel;Department of Communication Disorders, Speech Perception and Listening Effort Lab in the Name of Prof. Mordechai Himelfarb, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel;Meuhedet Health Services, Tel Aviv, Israel;Department of Gerontology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel;Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel;Department of Health Systems Management, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel;

关键词: listening effort;    pupillometry;    speech recognition in noise;    pupil dilation;    school aged children;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1188485

 received in 2023-03-17, accepted in 2023-06-05,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

IntroductionChildren experience unique challenges when listening to speech in noisy environments. The present study used pupillometry, an established method for quantifying listening and cognitive effort, to detect temporal changes in pupil dilation during a speech-recognition-in-noise task among school-aged children and young adults.MethodsThirty school-aged children and 31 young adults listened to sentences amidst four-talker babble noise in two signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) conditions: high accuracy condition (+10 dB and  + 6 dB, for children and adults, respectively) and low accuracy condition (+5 dB and + 2 dB, for children and adults, respectively). They were asked to repeat the sentences while pupil size was measured continuously during the task.ResultsDuring the auditory processing phase, both groups displayed pupil dilation; however, adults exhibited greater dilation than children, particularly in the low accuracy condition. In the second phase (retention), only children demonstrated increased pupil dilation, whereas adults consistently exhibited a decrease in pupil size. Additionally, the children’s group showed increased pupil dilation during the response phase.DiscussionAlthough adults and school-aged children produce similar behavioural scores, group differences in dilation patterns point that their underlying auditory processing differs. A second peak of pupil dilation among the children suggests that their cognitive effort during speech recognition in noise lasts longer than in adults, continuing past the first auditory processing peak dilation. These findings support effortful listening among children and highlight the need to identify and alleviate listening difficulties in school-aged children, to provide proper intervention strategies.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Trau-Margalit, Fostick, Harel-Arbeli, Nissanholtz-Gannot and Taitelbaum-Swead.